WASHINGTON — Amid growing political pressure over the influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order temporarily halting asylum applications if the average daily number of interactions between official ports of entry exceeds 2,500, a senior administration official said.
A senior administration official said that because that threshold has already been reached, the closure will take effect immediately. The border will only reopen if the number drops to 1,500. The president’s order is based on Sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which suspends the entry of aliens who cross the southern border into the United States illegally.
“Individuals who cross the southern border illegally or without authorization generally will not be eligible for asylum unless authorized by this executive order, absent extraordinary and compelling circumstances,” a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
Officials said migrants who do not meet the “credible fear” requirement when applying for asylum will be deported immediately and “we expect that they will be deported within days, if not hours.”
The White House shared details of the long-awaited measure with lawmakers on Monday, but they confirmed the executive order’s specifics Tuesday morning ahead of the president’s planned address with mayors of border towns in the White House East Room.
“This is definitely a step in the right direction,” said Texas Rep. Eddie Jones Jr., whose district includes Eagle Pass, Texas. “It’s one of several steps we need to take to ensure the security of our border.”
The Trump administration tried to enact similar border restrictions in 2018 but was blocked by courts, and the Biden administration now intends to defend the executive order against legal challenges.
The order also has some exceptions, such as for unaccompanied children.
Caroline Levett, a spokeswoman for Donald Trump’s campaign, argued in a written statement that the exception would “give a green light to child traffickers and sex traffickers,” while repeating the former president’s slogan that “border invasions and immigration crime will not stop until evil Joe Biden is removed from the White House.”
Republican lawmakers have criticized the measure as too little, too late.
“(Biden) has intentionally created a crisis at the border,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “The order poses more political risk than political gain, especially since it would be rejected by Biden’s own base.”
But the White House has repeatedly blamed congressional Republicans for failing to address the immigration issue. Earlier this year, President Trump urged House Republicans to kill a bipartisan border spending bill being considered in the Senate. At the time, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans argued that the Senate bill did not go far enough and that they would prefer a tougher immigration bill to pass in the House.
“President Biden has led the historic opening of lawful pathways for individuals and families to enter the United States through lawful processes, including the CBP One mobile application for requesting appointments at ports of entry, family reunification programs in regional countries, and historic parole proceedings for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans,” the administration official said. “As such, the actions we are announcing today are in tandem with those lawful pathways.”
The order comes on the heels of a historic presidential election in Mexico and with the election campaign in full swing in the U.S. A national CNBC poll from late March found that when asked which candidate would handle immigration and border security better, Trump had a 30-point lead among registered voters and a 23-point lead among Latino voters.
Many immigration advocates are infuriated by the president’s tougher immigration policies and say the changes will cause chaos.
“This betrays what was said on the campaign trail four years ago,” said Lindsay Toczyrowski, executive director of the California-based Immigrant Advocacy Law Center. “President Biden was said to be restoring humanity at the border … and we’re seeing history repeat itself.”
