President Biden introduced an executive order on Tuesday restricting asylum applications at the southern border, but details of the measure emerged revealing that the border closure includes significant exceptions that critics have described as “truck-friendly.”
“Today, I’m going to overcome Republican obstruction and use the executive powers I have as president to do what I can to address the situation at the border,” Biden said in a speech Tuesday afternoon.
The presidential proclamation would temporarily halt migrants crossing the southern border if the number of border encounters exceeds a seven-day daily average of 2,500, officials said.
‘It’s an insult’: Biden’s border order draws condemnation from Democrats and Republicans
Migrants at the front of the line will be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (John Michael Raasch/Fox News Digital)
The measure will be in effect for 14 days after the seven-day average number of encounters along the border falls below 1,500. It is accompanied by an interim final rule from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, which also applies higher standards that migrants must meet in their initial asylum hearing. The measure has been criticized by Democrats as well as Republicans, and has even been threatened with a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
But the rule has a series of important exceptions. Not only does it not apply to legal immigrants, it does not apply to unaccompanied children or people determined to be “victims of severe human trafficking.” It also does not apply to people who make reservations through the CBP One app at ports of entry, where roughly 1,500 people enter the country each day. There are also exceptions for people who may be admitted “based on the totality of the circumstances,” such as emergency humanitarian or law enforcement considerations.
Border crossings surge as election nears, Biden orders most illegal immigration to be stopped
Finally, the bill allows foreign nationals to enter the country because “operational considerations justify the admission of foreign nationals.”
Those exceptions raised further concerns among Republicans already unhappy with the executive order, who believed it was too little, too late.
On June 4, 2024, President Biden left the White House after giving a speech about the executive order. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
“The exceptions in Biden’s new executive order are broad enough to drive a truck through,” Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee said on TwitterX (formerly Twitter).
“So the message to drug cartels and smugglers is that there is no green light to smuggle trafficked children into this country and subject them to various forms of servitude, slavery, sex trafficking, labor trafficking and other abuse, incarceration and torture,” Stephen Miller, a former senior Trump administration official, said of the exemption for unaccompanied minors.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas disputed that claim when asked by Neil Cavuto on “Your World” if this was a green light for smugglers, calling the cartels “unscrupulous.”
“They exploit all kinds of vulnerable individuals, and we’re taking it to the cartels. We’ve exempted unaccompanied children from this asylum ban because of the compelling humanitarian case they present,” he said.
The Biden administration has acknowledged these exceptions, saying the executive order distinguishes Biden from the exercise of authority during the Trump administration.
‘It’s an insult’: Biden’s border orders draw condemnation from Democrats and Republicans
“This action does not ban people from entering the country because of their religion. It does not separate children from their mothers. There are also narrow humanitarian exceptions to the asylum ban, such as for people facing acute medical emergencies or immediate, extreme threats to their life or safety. And the Trump administration’s action does not include those exceptions,” a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the move tightens the policy when authorities try to expedite the expulsion of illegal immigrants under “expedited expulsion.” Previously, each immigrant was asked if he or she feared persecution in their home country, and if they answered yes, they were screened for “credible fear.” From now on, officials will no longer ask individually, but will give immigrants a general notice and pay attention to verbal and non-verbal signs that they may fear deportation.
The behaviours authorities are instructed to look out for include explicit statements expressing a migrant’s fear, as well as self-harm and “non-verbal behaviour” – hysteria, trembling, abnormal behaviour, “incoherent” speech and “unusual levels of silence”. If authorities determine a migrant is displaying such fear, the guidance says they must first provide the migrant with information and refer him or her to an asylum officer.
As a result, detention centers will post signs stating: “Tell an officer if you are hungry or thirsty, need medical care, fear persecution or torture if deported from the United States, are a victim of abuse, are a victim of sexual assault, or witnessed a crime. Your case will be heard, and you may be referred to a medical professional, asylum officer, or other law enforcement professional.”
Translations will be provided in Arabic, Bengali, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, K’iche/Khushlantzij, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), Turkish and Vietnamese. The guidance also states that a video explaining the situation should be played every two hours each day.
Conservative critics said the guidance shows little will change despite its introduction.
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“This guidance basically states that if an illegal immigrant claims fear, they must be approved, no questions asked, by USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), which means nothing really changes except for CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection).
“If immigrants are afraid of returning home, ICE isn’t going to let them through the gates,” RJ Howman, director of the National Center for Immigration Enforcement (NICE) and visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “Traffickers and drug cartels will quickly adapt to this political ploy. They’ll tell everyone to claim fear as soon as they’re arrested, rather than waiting to be questioned.”
