President Joe Biden blamed Republicans who refused to pass a Senate border bill for his decision Tuesday to take executive action and ban migrants from seeking asylum at the southern border starting at midnight.
“Today, I’m moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own,” Biden said during a press conference at the White House Tuesday afternoon. “The Republicans left me no choice.”
Biden’s executive action comes several months after a bipartisan trio of senators debuted a comprehensive border security plan that was immediately rejected by House Republicans at the recommendation of former President Donald Trump.
Starting at midnight Tuesday, migrants who show up at the ports of entry at which vehicles cross or who cross illegally into the United States will not be able in most circumstances to seek asylum.
Biden, whom the American Civil Liberties Union has already vowed to sue over the asylum ban, attempted to save face over the controversial move that some have compared to Trump’s border policies.
“I will never demonize immigrants. I will never say they are poisoning the blood of our country,” Biden said in reference to comments that Trump has made in the past. “I will never separate children from their families at the border. I will not ban people because of religious beliefs.”
Biden’s attempt to clean up the crisis that has engulfed the southern border since he first took office and reversed all Trump-era border policies is critical if he wants to appeal to independent voters. Primary and caucus voters polled earlier this year, along with respondents surveyed nationwide, said immigration topped their list of issues.
Republicans and Trump were quick to criticize the border action.
“My question to [President Biden] is, why did you wait until now if you were serious about doing it? The simple answer is he’s not serious about securing the border,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said.
“The President’s poll numbers are in the tank — especially on immigration — and later this month he is scheduled to debate President Trump — the strongest border security President in the history of the United States,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) added. “So, it’s no surprise that Joe Biden is trying to fool the American public into thinking he cares about the country’s borders.”
Biden was surrounded by supporters from border states, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), and seven House Democrats.
Biden was also joined by local elected officials, including Mayors Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio, Oscar Leeser of El Paso, Ramiro Garza of Edinburg, Norma Sepulveda of Harlingen, Victor Trevino of Laredo, and John Cowen of Brownsville. Sheriff Javier Salazar of Bexar County, Texas, and Supervisor Manuel Ruiz of Santa Cruz County, Arizona, were also in attendance.
The asylum ban is set to go into effect at the end of the day and will trigger a much faster removal process than is currently in place.
“Migrants will be restricted from receiving asylum at our southern border unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process,” Biden said. “If an individual chooses not to use our legal pathways — they choose to come without permission and against the law — they will be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.”
The executive order, along with two rules issued by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, will allow federal law enforcement to remove migrants quickly after they cross illegally and are apprehended.
It does this by making it much more difficult for migrants in government custody to request asylum, thus allowing federal police to remove those who are not in the screening process from the country.
Migrants will be returned home within “a matter of days if not hours,” according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters Tuesday morning. For migrants who do state that they fear being returned to their home country, they will be screened against a “substantially higher standard” than the threshold that has been used as the basis for being able to seek asylum.
Under the new protocols, the asylum ban will remain in effect if the seven-day average of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents between the ports of entry is above 2,500 arrests per day. The ban will only be walked back if the seven-day average of migrants arrested drops below 1,500 apprehensions daily for at least two weeks.
“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. They will make it easier for immigration officials to remove those who are here unlawfully and reduce the burden on our Border Patrol agents,” a second senior administration official who spoke with reporters said.
At present, approximately 4,000 to 5,000 migrants are being arrested daily.
The officials struggled to explain to reporters why this type of executive action was not taken at any point in the past 40 months that record-high numbers of migrants have been arrested attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. In December, daily arrests topped 10,000 people.
Migrants who apply for admission prior to arriving at the border through the CBP One phone app will not be counted toward the daily cap because the app is considered a legal way for people outside the U.S. to seek admission.
Migrants arrested attempting to enter Florida and Puerto Rico by sea are also banned from seeking asylum.
But the Biden administration has carved out some exceptions to the new protocols, including unaccompanied migrant children.
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Biden said he attempted to change immigration policy by pushing Congress to take action, given that immigration levels are supposed to be set by the legislative branch, not the executive branch. However, given the inaction from Congress, Biden said he chose to take action.
“Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation because that’s the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now, that’s broken, fixed,” Biden said.
