By Ahmad Dagher
THE WHITE HOUSE––This Tuesday, June 4, President Biden announced an executive order that denies asylum to migrants who cross the southern border illegally at times when the number of daily arrivals exceeds 2,500. The averages are daily ones taken over the course of a week.
That means that the executive order will take effect immediately.
Biden and other administration officials noted that the order was a response to inaction by Congress regarding the southern border crisis (as, for another time, the bipartisan framework on the issue that had reached the Senate was blocked by the Republicans).
The order will ensure that U.S. border officials will expel foreign nationals who have crossed the border between ports of entry when in effect. These nationals will not only possibly be criminally prosecuted, but will also receive a minimum five-year bar on reentry into the US.
Migrants of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, Venezuelan, or Mexican origin will all be deported to Mexico according to officials. Their goal is to encourage migrants to seek asylum at ports of entry by scheduling appointments through the Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app.
This measure will be accompanied by others that aim to target smuggling organizations that profit from migration to the US. This includes revoking visas for government officials from many countries like Nicaragua, and top executives from migration transportation-related companies.
However, the order’s ramifications will have a few exceptions. They will not apply to unaccompanied minors, and border officers will still be allowed to interview migrants who fear returning to their country due to persecution or torture situations.
Further, once the average of daily encounters drops below 1,500, the order will no longer be in effect.
But the order is being met with much criticism. Migrant rights activists argue that scheduling an appointment for asylum is no easy process, and using a phone application only makes it more overwhelming.
“In practice what this means is trying to even ask for asylum or ask for any of these protections is going to be well-near impossible,” said Karla Marisol Vargas, a senior lawyer for the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project.
Biden’s decision was criticized on opposite grounds by some pro-border control Republicans, who argue that the executive action taken on Tuesday is simply ‘too little, too late.’
