Biden working on a plan to restrict migrants’ ability to claim asylum

U.S. President Joe Biden is considering an executive order that aims to prevent migrants from applying for asylum if they cross illegally into the United States. The executive order, reported by The New York Times, would modify one of the most deeply-rooted guarantees in the United States: that migrants fleeing their countries of origin can find protection when entering U.S. territory. The plan is similar to one devised by Donald Trump during his presidency.

The White House plan is in the study phase after Congress presented a law that sought to address the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, an issue that has become a headache for the Democratic administration ahead of the November election. The initiative drafted in January by lawmakers from both parties offered the “toughest and fairest” reforms to control the flow of irregular migrants from Mexico. The border security bill collapsed when Donald Trump ordered senators of his party to block it.

The rejection of the border security bill, on which aid to Ukraine and Israel also depended, prompted the executive to consider other options. The answer, according to The New York Times, may be an executive order that would not need to go through Congress. The border is one of the weakest fronts for Biden. According to a poll this week by The Economist and YouGov, 60% of Americans disapprove of his border management.

“No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected,” said Angelo Fernández, a White House spokesman quoted by AP. Fernández criticized the president’s political rivals without confirming the viability of the plan. “Congressional Republicans chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security, rejected what border agents have said they need, and then gave themselves a two-week vacation,” he added.

The ill-fated law drafted by Democratic and Republican senators proposed closing the southern border to migrants if the number of illegal border crossings reached above 5,000 daily for a five-day average or up to 8,500 in a single day. Last December broke all illegal crossing records. During that month, immigration authorities detained 302,000 people on the U.S.-Mexico border, an average of 9,740 migrants per day. In January, however, this number fell by half.

The executive order being studied by Biden and his government would have a similar effect, modifying the requirements stipulated in section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Law. This section gives the executive power to block various groups of migrants from entering the country. The modification of this rule was widely used during the Trump administration.

Now, the new executive order would prevent those who arrive by land or air from applying for asylum. This is a very popular recourse among immigrants because they regain their freedom after a brief period of detention and lead a normal life in the United States until an immigration court hears their case. The Democratic administration intends to order immigration by giving those who migrate the possibility of starting the asylum process in their places of origin through a cell phone application called CBP One.

It is not the first time that Biden has considered this measure. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would adopt the measure in May 2023 on a temporary basis, for a period of two years. However, the White House was met with fierce backlash, with human rights groups threatening to file lawsuits if it was put into practice.

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