President Joe Biden signed an executive order Tuesday that will sharply limit the number of people requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“President Biden believes we must secure our border,” the White House said in a fact sheet released Tuesday. “That is why today, he announced executive actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum.”
According to administration officials, the order goes into effect once the weekly average of daily encounters reaches 2,500 among points of entry.
The order will prevent migrants unlawfully crossing the southern border from seeking asylum.
But the Biden administration said the actions are not permanent and will only be in effect when the southern border is overwhelmed.
“They will be discontinued when the number of migrants who cross the border between ports of entry is low enough for America’s system to safely and effectively manage border operations,” the fact sheet said.
The fact sheet added that there are also humanitarian exceptions to the order.
Biden is issuing the executive order under a section of the 72-year-old Immigration and Nationality Act known as 212(f), which gives a president broad authority to block entry into the country to any class of immigrants believed to be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
Former president Donald Trump relied on Section 212(f) to enact some of his toughest actions on immigration, including the so-called “Muslim ban” when he barred immigration and travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
Biden is taking action after most senate Republicans rejected a bipartisan border security bill – and some Democrats – in February after Trump openly objected to it.
“Republicans in Congress chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security, twice voting against the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades,” the White House said in the fact sheet.
