Biden announced a new immigration executive action on Tuesday that will enable the administration to ban migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally.
It is an obvious politically motivated move as he seeks re-election in November, and has not prioritized this issue prior to this action. It comes just weeks before the first debate between him and President Trump. This is the same authority Trump attempted to use while in office.
Biden issued a proclamation under sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, suspending the entry of noncitizens who unlawfully cross the Southern border into the United States. Accompanying this proclamation is an interim final rule from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security that restricts asylum for these noncitizens.
The new executive action prevents migrants who cross illegally from seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met, unless they meet specific exemptions. This measure can be activated or deactivated and will be lifted when the daily average of encounters between ports of entry drops below 1,500.
The action is scheduled to take effect at midnight ET.
Read the order press release here.
