According to multiple people familiar with the discussions, the White House is informing lawmakers that President Joe Biden is getting ready to approve an executive order that would close the US-Mexico border to asylum requests once the average daily encounter count reaches 2,500 between ports of entry. The border would only reopen once that number drops to 1,500.
Due to the fact that daily data are now greater than the 2,500 threshold, the executive order may take effect immediately.
At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, to which border mayors have been invited, the Democratic president is anticipated to announce the measures, which represent his most assertive unilateral effort to yet to reduce the number of people at the border.
Two of the five individuals who were aware of the Monday's discussions verified the 1,500 number, while the other five confirmed the 2,500 amount.
The numbers represent weekly averages of the daily values. Everyone insisted on remaining anonymous when talking about an executive order that isn't yet published.
The 1,500 mark, which would allow the frontier to reopen for asylum seekers, may be difficult to accomplish, even while other border activities like trade are anticipated to go on.
At the height of the COVID-19 epidemic in July 2020, the daily average last fell to 1,500 encounters.
Leading White House staff members, such as Director of Legislative Affairs Shuwanza Goff and Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, have been briefing Capitol Hill lawmakers on the specifics of the upcoming order in advance of its official release on Tuesday.
However, a number of uncertainties still surround the executive order's implementation, chief among them the degree of cooperation that US officials would require from Mexican authorities in order to execute the directive.
Following the failure of bipartisan legislation to restrict asylum at the border due to widespread Republican withdrawal at the urging of former president and presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump, the president has been considering his options for months.
Even though there have been fewer illegal crossings at the southern border for several months—partially due to increased efforts by Mexico—Biden has persisted in considering taking unilateral action.
Officials from the Biden administration had delayed to comment on the US president's border activities until after Sunday's presidential elections in Mexico.
Biden declared in a statement on Monday that he was dedicated to "advancing the values and interests of both our nations to the benefit of our peoples," following the election of Claudia Sheinbaum as the first female leader of Mexico.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, declined to comment on whether or not the two discussed the impending decision during their phone conversation on Monday.
"We are still considering all available options," Jean-Pierre stated to reporters on Monday night while flying on Air Force One with Biden.
With Congress Republicans killing off what would have been the strictest border and asylum laws in a long time, Biden will be able to claim that Obama has overreached himself thanks to the unilateral order.
The goal of Biden's directive is to attempt and prevent any possible increase in border crossings that might occur later this year, in the run-up to the November elections.
The bipartisan Senate border agreement has several rules that the White House is immediately implementing for Biden's executive order. One such policy is the notion of capping asylum requests after a predetermined number of encounters.
Using the CBP One app, which makes approximately 1,450 appointments daily for US Customs and Border Protection, the administration hopes to encourage migrants to apply for asylum at ports of entry.
Lawyers for the administration have been preparing to use the executive powers found in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This section allows the president the broad ability to exclude certain immigrants from entering the United States if doing so is thought to be "detrimental" to the interests of the country.
Trump has employed the same legal justification for several of his most stringent immigration policies since taking office.
As a result, activist groups are getting ready to file a legal challenge against Biden's immigration order.
Before making final lawsuit choices, we will need to analyze the (executive order)," stated American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who spearheaded several of the most well-known challenges to Trump's border policies. "However, a policy that essentially ends asylum would present obvious legal issues, as it did during the Trump administration's attempt to do so."
There will also undoubtedly be vociferous opposition from numerous Democratic lawmakers to the White House.
The Senate's previous border bill was sharply criticized by California Senator Alex Padilla, who stated that the executive order now under consideration was "just not the solution we need and it's very incomplete as a strategy."
Padilla, who was also informed by the White House on the proposal, favors a strategy that addresses the poverty and instability in Latin American nations in order to reduce migration to the United States.
Additionally, Padilla has been pressuring the White House to take executive measures that will help immigrants in recent weeks. He claims he has heard back that "we're working on it."
The White House asked a number of border mayors to attend Biden's executive order presentation.
Both Texas mayors, John Cowen of Brownsville and Ramiro Garza of Edinburg, confirmed receiving the invites. Additionally, the office of San Diego mayor Todd Gloria stated that the mayor received an invitation from the White House but was unable to attend because of schedule conflicts.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas who stated he was briefed on the plan, expressed his wish that the White House had acted sooner and added that Mexico's assistance will be essential as the administration carried out the order.
"Considering the logistics, is there anywhere else they could go?" Cuellar stated. Where do they go if they refuse to let them in? Do they attempt to deport as many people as possible, or do they return them (to Mexico)? Though sending them back to Mexico is obviously the easiest course of action, we did provide ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) with a significant increase in funding so they could deport. To make this work, you need Mexico's assistance.
Attorney Jennifer Babaie of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas, expressed her concern that Biden would issue formal deportation orders without giving people a chance to apply for asylum. Advocates fear that he might try to use the 212(f) provision for that.
The "silver lining" of the pandemic-era expulsion authority known as Title 42, according to Babaie, was that it allowed migrants to retry without worrying about facing legal repercussions.
However, a formal deportation order would ban them from entering the nation lawfully in the future and subject them to felony prosecution if they tried to enter again.
Babaie declared, "This is even more extreme than (Title 42), while still putting people in danger."
