President Biden’s announcement of a new asylum bar for migrants coming across the southern border when encounters hit a certain level was met with immediate criticism from both Democrats and Republicans — with Republicans calling it a "stunt" and some Democrats accusing him of betraying migrants.
Biden signed a proclamation that will temporarily suspend the entry of non-citizens across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days, officials said.
That will stay in effect until 14 days after there has been a seven-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border. Officials said it would make it easier for immigration officers to quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the U.S.
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The order includes a number of exceptions for those coming across the border. It will not apply to visa holders, unaccompanied children, victims of a "severe form" of trafficking, as well as those who face an acute medical emergency or an imminent threat to life or safety. It also does not apply to those seeking entry to the U.S. via ports of entry using the CBP One app — of which around 1,500 migrants are allowed in each day.
"Today I'm moving past Republican obstruction and using executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border," President Biden said in a speech on Tuesday afternoon, accusing Republicans of refusing to secure the border.
But it drew a sharp backlash both from Republicans and from some Democrats, but for different reasons.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and House Republican Chair Elise Stefanik, said that the order was a "desperate political stunt to try and stabilize his plummeting poll numbers" ahead of the November election.
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"From his first day in office, Biden has worked to implement a failed open border agenda which created this historic humanitarian and national security catastrophe. He has turned every American community into a border community and opened our country to violent criminals, terrorists, cartels, and poisonous drugs.
"This Executive action does nothing to end parole abuses or catch-and-release. It continues the administration’s abuse of the CBP One app. It does not reimplement President Trump’s successful Remain in Mexico policy. It provides no new resources for border patrol. It does nothing to deport the millions who have poured over our open border every year since Biden took office. And it will still allow scores of additional illegal immigrants to flood into our country before any so-called shutdown authority kicks in," they said.
"President Biden has effectively legitimized crisis levels of illegal immigration well beyond those laid out by the DHS secretary he once served with," House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green said. "And this number doesn’t count any of the roughly 70,000 monthly encounters through Biden and Mayorkas’ unlawful CBP One, CHNV and other mass-parole programs."
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Stephen Miller, who served as a senior White House official during the Trump administration, was scathing in his assessment of the order, calling it a "pro-invasion, pr- illegal migration executive order."
He highlighted that the Biden administration is currently allowing thousands of migrants a week via ports of entry using the CBP One app, and said that just because a migrant is unable to claim asylum at the border, does not mean they won’t be released into the interior of the country.
"They'll still release you on a [Notice to Appear]. They'll still give you a court date in the future. They will still release you on the basis of capacity concerns. Mexico won't take them, other countries won’t take them They have no detention space, no detention plans. Border Patrol is going to keep on releasing everybody, and everyone they don't release is going to go to a port of entry, and they're going to get released into the country with parole to live in our communities," he told reporters.
The order also picked up criticism from Democrats in both chambers. Rep. Pramila Jayapal who is ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, said the move was a "dangerous step in the wrong direction" and noted that the underlying authority — 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) had been deployed by the Trump administration.
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"This attempt to shut down the border to asylum seekers uses the same section of U.S. immigration laws that convicted felon Donald Trump used to implement the Muslim Ban and in attempts to cut off all access to asylum," she said in a statement. "While there are some differences from Trump’s actions, the reality is that this utilizes the same failed enforcement-only approach, penalizes asylum seekers, and furthers a false narrative that these actions will ‘fix’ the border."
Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee were also not impressed by the order.
"President Biden has acted in the face of Congressional Republicans cynically deciding to block bipartisan border security legislation," Ranking Member Bennie Thompson said. "That being said, I am concerned about the impact of the Executive Order on vulnerable people coming to the United States for safety and protection. We must ensure continued access to asylum under U.S. law."
In the Senate, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., accused Biden of having "undermined American values and abandoned our nation’s obligations to provide people fleeing persecution, violence and authoritarianism with an opportunity to seek refuge in the U.S."
"This asylum ban will fail to address the challenge at our border, just as it did under the Trump administration. It will lead to people with legitimate asylum claims being prevented from seeking safety and returned to harm."
Republicans there too were no less critical of the order.
"By my count, he's issued 94 executive orders since he's been president of the United States. But he's waited until today to actually do what he calls effective action on the border," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said at a press conference. "And my question to him 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."
"This is one of the most cynical things that I have ever seen a politician attempt to do five months before an election. It is insulting. It is cheap," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said.
