Joe Biden indicated in a Tuesday interview with the Spanish-language network Univision that he was going to issue an executive order to drastically limit border crossings for asylum seekers. No details have been released on the shape and scope of the EO, but White House sources are telling Axios that the policy change will be announced by the end of the month.
The announcement follows years of Biden claiming he could do nothing about the surge of asylum seekers coming into the United States, and that it was up to Republicans in Congress to stem the flow of humanity pouring into the country. Now, Biden has suddenly discovered that he had the power to deal with the crisis all along.
Such extraordinary cynicism is rare for a president. But Joe Biden is in a political fight for survival and there's nothing he won't do or say to defeat Donald Trump.
There's no question of the legality of denying entry to most asylum seekers. U.S. law is clear on the subject. Asylum seekers must be given a hearing and shelter until their case is adjudicated.
But Biden is now running scared. And even if his executive order is declared illegal, he can claim he's trying his best to deal with the crisis.
The immigration control method Biden is relying on is the same one he referred to as "inhumane" when Donald Trump successfully used it to dramatically reduce asylum seekers.
The provision Biden is eyeing would restrict the ability of immigrants to claim asylum, and doesn't require congressional approval, Axios reported in February.
Biden would use authority in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the president broad leeway to block entry of certain immigrants if it would be "detrimental" to U.S. national interests.
He'd be taking a page from former President Trump, who has repeatedly leaned on that section.
"We're examining whether or not I have that power," Biden told Univision's Enrique Acevedo in an interview taped last week that aired Tuesday night.
"Some are suggesting that I should just go ahead and try it," Biden said. "And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court."
See, America? I tried! I really tried!
Few voters will be taken in by this cynical ploy. But maybe enough gullible or low-information voters will believe the president to make the move a political plus.
Related: Another State Threatens to Leave Biden Off the Ballot
Biden said in the Univision Noticias interview that the US doesn’t have enough staff to interview asylum claimants or enough Border Patrol officers. The Senate bill failed after former President Donald Trump objected and pressured Republicans to kill it rather than risk handing Biden a victory.
Utter nonsense. There's now a five million-strong backlog of asylum seekers. Even with the border deal, the number of immigration judges and asylum interviewers would still fall far short of reducing the five-year waiting period for a legal determination of asylum.
If Biden had initiated many of these Trump-era policies immediately after the crisis began in the spring of 2021, there wouldn't have been a crisis.
According to Senator John Cornyn's office, "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has logged more than 5.4 million illegal border crossings, plus at least 1.5 million “gotaways” – that is, border crossers who were detected by CBP technology, but who were never apprehended."
We were told by Biden during the 2020 campaign that he would have an immigration policy that was "safe, orderly, and humane." The reality is exactly the opposite and it's the Republican's job to make sure voters don't forget that.
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