WASHINGTON — Facing growing political pressure over the influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will temporarily end asylum applications once the average number of daily encounters reaches 2,500 between ports entry officers, according to a senior administration official.
The shutdown would take effect immediately as that threshold has already been reached, a senior government official said. The border would only reopen when that number drops to 1,500. The president’s order would fall under sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, suspending the entry of noncitizens who illegally cross the southern border into the United States.
Senior administration officials said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters that “individuals who cross the southern border illegally or without authorization will generally be ineligible for asylum in the absence of exceptionally compelling circumstances unless they are accepted under the proclamation.”
Officials said migrants who do not meet the requirement of having a “credible fear” when applying for asylum will be immediately removed, and “they anticipate that we will remove these individuals within a matter of days, if not hours,”
The White House relayed details of the long-awaited measure to lawmakers on Monday, but confirmed details of the executive order on Tuesday morning, ahead of the president’s planned remarks in the East Room of the White House alongside mayors of several border cities.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Texas state Rep. Eddie Jones Jr., whose district includes Eagle Pass, Texas. “One of several steps necessary for us to secure the border.”
In 2018, the Trump administration tried to enact similar border restrictions, but courts blocked them. The Biden administration now hopes to defend the executive order against legal challenges.
The executive order will also have some exceptions, including for unaccompanied children.
In a written statement, Donald Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavett said the exception would give “a green light to child traffickers and sex traffickers,” while reiterating the former president’s rallying cry that “ the border invasion and migrant crime will not stop until the corrupt Joe Biden is deported from the White House.”
Republican lawmakers are criticizing the measure as too little and too late.
“(Biden) intentionally created a crisis at the border,” said Senator Kevin Cramer. R-ND. “(Executive action) has more political risk than political benefit, especially since his own base will reject it.”
But the White House has repeatedly argued that it was congressional Republicans who failed to act on immigration. Earlier this year, Trump urged House GOP members to kill a bipartisan border funding bill that had been negotiated in the Senate. At the time, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans said the Senate bill did not go far enough and argued that a more hardline immigration bill in the House was preferable.
“President Biden has led a historic opening of legal pathways for individuals and families to enter the United States through a legal process, including the CBP One mobile app to request an appointment to appear at a port of entry, as well as family-friendly programs. reunification in countries across the region and a historic parole process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans,” said a senior administration official. “And so this measure that we announced today comes along with these legal paths,”
The executive action comes on the heels of a historic presidential election in Mexico and as campaigning in the U.S. ramps up. Trump has a 30 point advantage with registered voters on the question of which candidate would best handle immigration and border security, including a 23-point lead among Latino voters, according to a CNBC national poll in late March.
Many immigrant advocates are furious about the president’s tougher immigration policies and argue the changes will cause chaos.
“It’s a betrayal of what we were told in his campaign four years ago,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the California-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “We were told that President Biden would restore humanity to our border… But what we are seeing is history repeating itself.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
