Biden orders temporary Mexico border closure for asylum seekers – Technologist

President Joe Biden will temporarily shut the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers whenever illegal migrant crossings surge, the White House said on Tuesday, June 4, in a dramatic bid to neutralize one of his political weak spots in the reelection battle against Donald Trump.

The 81-year-old Democrat is signing a long-awaited executive order that would ban migrants who enter illegally from getting asylum when numbers top 2,500 in a day – and then make it easier to deport them back to Mexico.

“To Joe Biden, the safety of American families should always come first. That’s why today, the president is announcing new historic executive actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

Officials said the tough new curbs should take effect straight away, as the number of people crossing the border without proper documentation is already above the threshold. Asylum seekers would once again be allowed to enter the country once the numbers dropped to 1,500 a day. “We do expect that the authority would be in effect immediately,” a Biden administration official told reporters.

The move would be one of the toughest ever by a Democratic president and see Biden moving closer to Republican Trump’s own signature border policies, amid polls showing the issue heavily dragging on Biden’s reelection chances in November. Biden himself was due to speak at the White House at 2:00 pm, local time.

Trump’s campaign earlier dismissed the expected executive order as being “for amnesty, not border security.”

‘Kids in cages’

Migrants entering the United States are normally allowed to claim asylum if they face harm or persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Yet many spend years waiting for their claims to be processed, with critics saying that many people cross purely for economic reasons and then game the system to remain in the United States.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that Biden was dealing with an immigration system that had been “broken for decades.” Jean-Pierre accused Republicans in Congress of “partisan politics” by failing to cooperate with Biden, and for blocking billions of dollars in funding for the border which the president tried to push through along with money for Ukraine and Israel.

Under Biden, border crossings have surged to record levels, rising to a peak of around 300,000 – 10,000 a day – in December. The numbers have fallen considerably in recent months, to some 179,000 in April, but polls show it is still one of Biden’s biggest electoral liabilities.

Biden’s executive order aims to defuse Republican attacks and to woo middle-of-the-road voters worried about the state of the border. But his plan will anger leftist Democrats and it will almost certainly be challenged in court by civil rights groups.

The White House moved to defuse criticisms that Biden is effectively copying Trump – even using the same laws as his predecessor for his new executive order. “All of these policies are in stark contrast to how the previous administration managed immigration,” a second senior administration official told reporters. “They demonized immigrants, instituted mass raids, separated families at the border and put kids in cages. Their policies went against our values as a nation.”