President Joe Biden is scheduled to release a broad new executive order to reduce migrant arrivals at the US-Mexico border.
According to reports, the anticipated order would allow US officials to quickly deport migrants who enter the country illegally without considering their asylum cases after a daily threshold is met.
This, in turn, allows border officers to control the number of migrants. Reports stated.
Over 6.4 million migrants have been stopped crossing into the US illegally during Joe Biden’s administration – a record high that has left him politically vulnerable as he campaigns for re-election.
Mr Biden has been mulling the use of a 1952 law that allows access to the American asylum system to be restricted. Reports said.
The statute, known as 212(f), empowers the US president to “suspend the entry” of foreigners whose arrival is “detrimental to the interests” of the country.
The Trump administration used the same policy to limit immigration and travel from numerous largely Muslim nations, as well as to deny refuge to migrants arrested crossing into the United States illegally, prompting accusations of prejudice.
Asylum processing at ports of entry is expected to continue under the order.
About 1,500 asylum seekers go through the process at official crossings each day, mostly after setting up appointments using a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) app known as CBP One.
Mayors of several border towns – including Brownsville and Edinburg, both in Texas – were expected to be in Washington for the president’s announcement.
Democratic lawmakers have also been reportedly briefed on the plan.
The proposal, however, is likely to be challenged in court, either from immigration advocates or from Republican-led states.
A White House official said on Friday that no final decisions had been made on possible executive actions.
A White House spokeswoman stated that a bipartisan border security agreement failed earlier this year due to Republican opposition in Congress.
Republicans criticized Biden’s border plan as an election-year ploy, claiming that US laws already exist to prohibit illegal immigration but are not being implemented by the Democratic president.
The prospective executive order comes as the number of migrant detentions at the US-Mexico border declines.
