Faced with a surge of migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border, election-year pressures to limit illegal immigration, and lawmakers unwilling to agree on a deal to help manage the problem, President
Joe Biden has reportedly
decided to take executive action.
On Tuesday, he is expected to sign an executive order that bans migrants who cross into the US illegally from claiming asylum. The ban would allow timely deportation back to Mexico or the migrant’s home country. This plan will swiftly be challenged in court, and a similar measure was notably overturned during the Trump administration in 2019. What’s more, there’s no clear plan to pay for deportations without more congressional funding.
The White House is also reportedly telling lawmakers that Biden will issue an order to halt all asylum requests at the border when the number of daily “encounters” there reaches 2,500. Only when that number drops to a weekly average of 1,500 per day can the stop be lifted. The current number is higher than 2,500 per day.
It’s not clear that either plan would be enough to improve the situation at the border — or change the electoral narrative around Biden’s migration policies.
