Biden tightens asylum restrictions despite decline in illegal border crossings

A new reality for the southern border in an election year: the Joe Biden administration has announced that it will maintain the asylum ban established in the summer despite the fact that the number of illegal crossings has fallen and stagnated in recent months, reaching figures similar to those seen at the end of the Donald Trump presidency. The Democratic president is now going further and, as of September 30, making it more difficult for the controversial measure to be lifted. This means that the border closure will remain in place indefinitely during the final months of his tenure in the White House.

The Biden administration announced in June that it would deny asylum applications to immigrants who request it while the border with Mexico was saturated with irregular arrivals. The measure helped federal authorities reduce the number of illegal crossings by 59% and made July and August the months with the fewest encounters (the processing of detainees) since September 2020. The drop caused many observers to wonder if Biden would lift the ban in the middle of the presidential election campaign.

In order for asylum restrictions to be lifted, Biden had initially set a ceiling of 2,500 people processed at the border by the Department of Homeland Security on average per day over seven days. Washington lowered the figure even further on Monday: there will now have to be fewer than 1,500 apprehensions on average per day for 28 consecutive days. This makes it virtually impossible for the restrictions to be scaled back. The U.S. Border Patrol has processed 1,700 people per day on average in recent weeks during a period in which illegal immigration figures have dropped to their lowest level in four years.

The White House says the move has helped deport 70% of adults who have arrived alone or with family members at the border since June. This includes 119,000 individuals from over 140 countries. Washington has tripled the rate of immediate expulsions of noncitizens and has halved the number of people released by the Border Patrol pending deportation proceedings. The Mexican government has also helped stem the flow, making it more difficult for people to continue their journey within its territory to reach its northern border.

The decision has sparked renewed criticism from immigrant rights organizations. “President Biden will be remembered for entrenching an asylum ban that has put hundreds of thousands of vulnerable individuals in danger,” said the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. The American Civil Liberties Union said the rule is not only “immoral, but illegal.” The group has taken the administration to court to try to suspend the asylum ban, which had been one of the fundamental pillars of U.S. immigration policy.

This veto will be one of the legacies that Biden will leave to his successor in the White House, even if his vice president, Kamala Harris, wins the presidential election on November 5. The Democratic candidate indicated last week that she is willing to continue the strict border controls that have been implemented.

“I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry. Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from re-entering for five years,” Harris said at a rally in Arizona, one of seven battleground states heading into this fall’s elections.

To try to regulate the flow of migrants, the administration has opted for an online application, CBP One, which must be filled out by those who wish to migrate to the United States. The application form must be completed in their countries of origin and before beginning the trip north. Authorities process about 1,450 appointments per day through the application. “While we understand that many people are desperate to migrate to the United States, our system must be orderly and secure,” Harris added on Friday.

Border under control

U.S. Border Patrol documented 54,000 illegal crossings in September. The figure, still preliminary and reported by CNN, indicates that the situation is practically the same since Biden put his veto on asylum into effect last June. At the end of his administration, the president has managed to control one of the flanks of attack most exploited by Republicans.

The dynamics at the border have changed considerably. December 2023 broke all records with some 250,000 encounters processed by federal authorities. This led Washington to rethink border control measures. The asylum ban has been the most successful tool. Between July and September, crossings have not reached 60,000 per month. August, with 58,000 arrests, represented a slight increase compared to July (56,400), but did not set off alarm bells in the White House. September again confirms the downward trend.

Despite this, immigration remains, along with the economy, one of the main issues heading into the elections. Trump constantly attacks Harris and Biden, claiming that they have allowed some 20 million illegal immigrants to enter the United States, a number that official data rejects. Many of these, says the Republican candidate, have left prisons and mental hospitals in El Salvador and Venezuela, another claim that has been repeatedly denied. Harris accuses Trump, on the other hand, of having quashed bipartisan legislation in the Senate that would have provided more resources for border control. Harris has promised to enact the law if she becomes president.

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