President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday that would allow his Administration to halt asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border once apprehensions at the border reach 2,500 per day.
Because the current daily number of people encountered by the Border Patrol between ports of entry is well over 2,500, this order would effectively shut down most asylum applications at the border when it takes effect. In May, about 3,800 people were encountered per day, according to data obtained by CBS News. The asylum claim process would only be allowed to resume if the number of daily encounters drops below 1,500.
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The U.S. asylum system is heavily backlogged, with over 1.1 million asylum cases currently pending approval in immigration courts. The average asylum seeker waits around four years before receiving a hearing in immigration court, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonprofit research group at Syracuse University. While cases are pending, asylum seekers live in limbo, with limited rights to employment and public benefits. The number of asylum cases pending has grown seven-fold since 2012, according to TRAC.
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The Biden Administration says that the executive order will help reduce the backlog and make the system more efficient. “President Biden believes we must secure our border. That is why today, he announced executive actions to bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum. These actions will be in effect when high levels of encounters at the Southern Border exceed our ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today,” a senior Administration official said in a statement. The order contains humanitarian exceptions for unaccompanied children and victims of trafficking.
Immigration is a top priority for voters, according to a recent poll by Pew Research Center. The executive order comes as Biden struggles in the polls against Donald Trump, whose hardline views on immigration can resonate with the American public. A poll conducted in January 2024 by CNN showed that nearly half of Americans would support the detainment and deportation of millions of immigrants.
The Biden Administration also blamed Republicans for blocking a congressional border control bill— which also included funding for Israel and Ukraine—that would have provided funding for an additional 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection personnel, 1,200 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, fentanyl detection machines to be used at the border, and made it easier to remove migrants believed to pose a threat to public safety.
Former President Donald Trump called the bill a “gift to the radical left Democrats,” and the bill failed to pass the Senate.”Legislation is still the only way to permanently address border security and immigration reform,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a memo addressing Tuesday’s executive order. “Today we are again calling on congressional Republicans to stop choosing Donald Trump and fentanyl traffickers over the Border Patrol Union and the safety of their constituents.”
Biden was set to announce his plans in Washington D.C. and invited the mayors of two border towns, John Cowen of Brownsville, Texas and Ramiro Garza of Edinburg, Texas, to attend the event.
The number of crossings at the U.S. southern border has decreased since December as Mexican authorities have increased their enforcement efforts.
On Sunday, Mexico elected a new President, Claudia Sheinbaum. She comes from the same political party as Mexico’s current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was cooperative with the U.S. on border policy.
-With additional reporting by Brian Bennett/Washington