Biden’s long-awaited southern border measure draws fire from all sides

President Biden on Tuesday unveiled a long-awaited measure that will significantly limit the number of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border, an attempt to tackle a complicated election year issue head-on after legislative efforts failed.

“Today I am overcoming Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to resolve the border issue,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation, because that is the only way to fix the kind of system we have now that is broken.”

The action means noncitizens crossing the southern border between ports of entry will be turned away whenever the seven-day average of daily border crossings exceeds 2,500 between ports of entry. As the seven-day average has already exceeded this limit, the measure came into force immediately.

Polls have shown that immigration is an important issue for many voters ahead of the November presidential election, and polls have consistently shown that voters trust former President Trump more than Biden on this issue.

And while Biden and other Democrats argue he had no choice but to act because Republicans blocked bipartisan legislation in the Senate, the policy drew swift criticism from both sides of the aisle, underscoring the difficult nature of trying to resolve the border.

Republicans dismissed the measure as a “window dressing” designed to give the White House a talking point with voters. Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, called the policy “weak” and “pathetic” and suggested it was “all about show, because he knows we’re going to have a debate in three weeks.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a statement that Biden’s decision making was “based on the proximity of the next election and declining poll numbers.”

“This executive order is just a political cover, and the American people will not be fooled,” said Cornyn, who is running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as Senate GOP leader.

Progressive Democrats lamented that Biden was using tactics similar to those of the Trump administration, which would threaten millions of migrants fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) quickly said it would challenge the order in court.

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said Biden’s crackdown would fail Republicans, who have made the border a top political issue.

“This will be a political message: ‘Here I am, responding to Republicans.’ But Republicans don’t care what we say and do. They will continue to cause chaos at the border because they have decided that immigrants are the scapegoat that will help them win the White House,” Ramirez told The Hill.

“And we, instead of actually coming up with solutions that match our values, we are responding to them, hoping they agree with us.”

Some centrists, however, cautiously praised Biden, warning of long-term threats to asylum.

“President Biden acted in the face of congressional Republicans who cynically decided to block bipartisan border security legislation,” wrote Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

“That said, I am concerned about the impact of the Executive Order on vulnerable people who come to the United States in search of safety and security. We must ensure continued access to asylum under U.S. law,” Thompson added.

Biden addressed some of these criticisms directly in his White House remarks.

He called the order the result of Republican obstruction in Congress, which blocked passage of a bipartisan border agreement in the Senate. That deal would have enacted a similar asylum cap and funded additional Border Patrol agents and immigration judges, among other things.

The president also reacted to those on the left who criticized him for going too far.

“Doing nothing is not an option. We have to act,” he said. “We must act in accordance with our law and our values.”

Biden also said he would “in the coming weeks… talk about how we can make the immigration system fairer and more just.”

News about the asylum crackdown, set to take place after Mexico’s presidential elections, had been circulating for weeks.

Meanwhile, advocates also hope for an order that could provide specific groups of undocumented immigrants a path to regularizing their status.

“If the Biden-Harris administration feels they must take executive action at the border, then they can and should quickly do the same for our country’s mixed-status families and Dreamers who are too young to qualify for DACA,” he said. the American Business Immigration Coalition. executive director Rebecca Shi.

The White House lobbied hard for months for the bipartisan bill in the Senate, and Biden said in January that he had done everything he could at the border and that it was up to Congress to act.

But Tuesday’s decision reflected the reality that he could not wait for the matter to end.

A Gallup poll published in late April found that 27% of Americans listed immigration as the top problem facing the country, more than any other issue.

A Marquette University poll of registered voters nationwide conducted last month found that 52 percent said Trump had done a better job on immigration and border security, compared with 25 percent who said Biden had done a better job. work better.

On Tuesday, Biden didn’t exactly shy away from the political implications, seeking to draw a clear contrast between his efforts to secure the border with Trump’s rhetoric and past policies.

“I will never demonize immigrants. I will never refer to immigrants as something that poisons the blood of a country. Furthermore, I will never separate children from their families at the border. I’m not going to ban people because of their religious beliefs,” Biden said. “I will not use the U.S. military to enter neighborhoods across the country to take millions of people from their homes and families to detention camps while they await deportation, as my predecessor says he will do if he holds this office again. ”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story