U.S. President Joe Biden has instituted a broad asylum ban on migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
This is as significant shift in attitude, which will likely alter Biden’s destiny in November’s presidential elections.
Under the order, officials can quickly remove migrants entering the US illegally without processing their asylum requests, once the border is overwhelmed – which has been the case for years now.
Migrants caught crossing illegally could be quickly deported or turned back to Mexico under the measure, which will take effect immediately.
Donald Trump, who is still Biden’s major competitor, made his strict stance on illegal immigration a focal point in his campaign.
Biden took office vowing to reverse some of Trump’s restrictive immigration policies but struggled with record levels of migrants caught crossing illegally, a trend that has strained U.S. border authorities and cities receiving new arrivals, says Reuters.
U.S. border arrests averaged 4,300 per day in April.
There will be exceptions for unaccompanied children, people who face serious medical or safety threats and victims of trafficking, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated. In advance of the announcement, Trump’s campaign issued a statement criticizing Biden for high levels of illegal immigration and stated that exempting unaccompanied minors would encourage child trafficking.
During a White House press conference explaining the proclamation, Biden said asylum access would remain available to migrants who registered for an appointment using an app known as CBP One or used other legal pathways instead of crossing illegally.
„This action will help us gain control of our border and restore order into the process,” Biden said. „This ban will remain in place until the number of people trying to enter illegally is reduced to a level that our system can effectively manage.”
The new restrictions resemble similar policies implemented by Trump and use a legal statute known as 212(f) that served as the underpinning for Trump’s travel bans blocking people from several majority-Muslim nations and other countries.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said they intended to sue over the new restrictions. The group and other immigrant advocacy organizations have criticized Biden for adopting his opponent’s policies and backtracking. Republicans similarly derided Biden’s move as being obviously politically motivated.
But Biden spent months trying to to pass a Senate bill crafted by a bipartisan group that would toughen border security but Republicans rejected it after Trump came out in opposition.
In addition to the latest measure, the Biden administration has taken a number of steps over the past year to toughen the asylum process, including issuing a regulation in May 2023 that heightened the standard for an initial asylum claim.
Even as Biden rolled out new restrictions, he criticized Trump’s immigration policies, such as that which involves separating migrant families at the border, saying that he himself would never demonize immigrants.
It is unclear how the administration would quickly deport migrants from far-away and uncooperative countries and how many non-Mexican migrants Mexico would accept under the new enforcement regime, reports Reuters.
When it comes to immigration policy, registered voters prefer Trump over Biden by a 17 percentage point margin, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-May.
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