It’s been a full day since President Biden announced an executive order restricting asylum for most illegal immigrants, but it didn’t appear to have an immediate impact on the flood of migrants coming across the southern border.
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) source told Fox News that Border Patrol apprehended about 4,000 illegal immigrants between ports of entry on the southern border on Wednesday, roughly the same as or slightly higher than the average in recent weeks, which is usually in the mid-to-high 3,000s, or about 4,000.
Overall, there were approximately 5,600 CBP apprehensions on Wednesday, including 4,000 illegal border crossings and releases via the CBP One App at ports of entry.
‘It’s an insult’: Biden’s border order draws condemnation from Democrats and Republicans
Migrants line up at the southern border in San Diego on June 6, 2024.
Additionally, the data shows that over 1,000 illegal immigrants were released into the United States yesterday in the San Diego area alone, indicating that the practice of “capture and release” continues.
Announcing the order on Tuesday, Biden said he would “overcome Republican obstruction and use the executive authority that I owe as president to do what I can to address the border situation.”
A presidential proclamation that would temporarily halt migrant entry across the southern border if border encounters exceed a seven-day daily average of 2,500, officials said, prompted the Homeland Security and Justice departments to enact rules that would raise the bar for asylum.
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,” nor does it apply to people who make reservations through the CBP One app at ports of entry, where about 1,500 people enter the country each day.
There are also exceptions for people who may be allowed into the country “based on the totality of the circumstances, taking into account law enforcement, police and public safety, urgent humanitarian interests, and public health interests that justify the admission of noncitizens.”
Border crossings surge as election nears, Biden orders most illegal immigration to be stopped
President Biden spoke about the executive order restricting asylum during a speech at the White House on June 4, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, authorities will limit migrants’ visits with lawyers to four hours instead of 24 and will no longer ask migrants individually if they want an asylum hearing, according to internal Department of Homeland Security guidance obtained by Fox News Digital. The guidance forms have been distributed to CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
But officials have been instructed to be on the lookout for behavior that may indicate fear of being deported to their home country, including “non-verbal” behavior such as trembling, unusual behavior and “unusual levels of silence.”
Officials have been instructed to post signs inside detention centers and play videos informing migrants that they may be referred to an asylum officer.
Democrats denounced the measure as a return to Trump-era policies.
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“Attempts to close the border to asylum seekers exploit the same provisions of U.S. immigration law that convicted felon Donald Trump used when he implemented the Muslim ban and attempted to cut off all access to asylum,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in a statement. “While somewhat different from Trump’s actions, in reality this utilizes the same failed enforcement-only approach, penalizing asylum seekers and promoting the false claim that these actions will ‘fix’ the border.”
Republicans said the measures were too little, too late, and conservative critics pointed to ICE’s new guidelines as evidence the measures will not be effective.
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“It’s bad enough that smugglers and taxpayer-funded NGOs are educating illegal immigrants on how to gain entry into the U.S., but now they’re being directed to educate CBP and ICE,” Laura Reese, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center on Border Security and Immigration, told Fox News Digital. “Biden has misled the American people and our entire immigration system.”
