President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to cross outside the lawful ports of entry, but only after a preset daily threshold of crossings is exceeded.
Biden’s decision to address the border comes after months of scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans over how he has handled the situation.
Under the new executive order, the Biden administration will shut down asylum requests to the southern border once the daily number of encounters reaches 2,500 between legal ports of entry, the Associated Press reported.
The border will be reopened once the number of crossings eases to 1,500. While legal challenges are expected, the order’s closure of the border could be in effect immediately with the current number of crossings.
Administration officials also shared with the media that “individuals who cross the southern border unlawfully or without authorization will generally be ineligible for asylum, absent exceptionally compelling circumstances, unless they are accepted by the proclamation,” NBC News reported.
Other border traffic is not expected to be affected by the order, which the Biden administration spent months sculpting.
While Biden has pestered Congress to pass legislation to address the country’s southern border, Republicans have said that he has the power to do so and could have acted sooner but that he refused in order to stay in good light with his progressive base.
Former President Donald Trump has taken the slow-moving action from Biden as an opportunity to hammer his 2024 presidential opponent.
Trump has said that Biden is unwilling to address the situation, but he has also raised eyebrows with his own comments about immigration.
“They’re coming in as terrorists. Many, many terrorists are coming in, and people are coming in with very contagious disease,” Trump said last month while appearing on WABC radio in New York. “You know, like it’s all of a sudden, you see there’s a run on tuberculosis. There’s a run on things that we haven’t talked about for years in this country.”
With the 2024 election growing closer, Americans have found themselves placing other issues, like the economy, ahead of immigration.
A recent report from RedFin found that, among different generations of voters, immigration was at most third and at least sixth most important issue this election.
Still, while some look to criticize the delay, other lawmakers are looking at the order more optimistically.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Texas state Rep. Eddie Morales, Jr., whose district includes Eagle Pass, Texas, shared. “One of a number of steps that are necessary for us to be able to secure the border.”