Biden order restricts how many migrants can seek asylum at southern border

Amna Nawaz:

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

President Biden signed an executive order today that temporarily blocks migrants from seeking asylum when border encounters reach a certain number.

Geoff Bennett:

The president used the announcement to set himself apart from his predecessor and political rival, former President Donald Trump.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: I will never demonize immigrants. I'll never refer to immigrants as poisoning the blood of a country.

And, further, I will never separate children from their families at the border. I will not ban people from this country because of their religious beliefs. I will not use the U.S. military to go into the neighborhoods all across the country to pull millions of people out of their homes and away from their families, to put detention camps while awaiting deportation, as my predecessor says he will do if he occupies this office again.

Geoff Bennett:

Still, the move is one of the most restrictive President Biden has taken to date to crack down on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barrón-López, joins us now.

Laura, it's great to see you.

So what does this executive order actually do?

Laura Barrón-López:

President Biden said that he needed to take this action to secure the border.

And what it does is that it uses 212(f) authority, what's known as 212(f) authority, to temporarily suspend entry. And so what that allows them to do is to — asylum requests will be shut down when daily averages hit 2,500 encounters between ports of entry.

Migrants will then be sent across the border or to their home country. And asylum requests will only reopen if the average drops below 1,500 encounters across a 14-day period.

And the ACLU has already said, Geoff, that it plans to file a legal challenge to this executive action. And so it's headed to the courts, potentially as far as the Supreme Court.

Geoff Bennett:

And this is notable, Laura, in part because President Biden ran for the office he now holds promising to make the asylum process more humane, as he put it, for migrants.

Who does this affect the most?

Laura Barrón-López:

There are going to be two exceptions to this ban, which is that it will not impact unaccompanied children and it will not impact victims of human trafficking.

But, roughly, according to April numbers from CBP, daily encounters are around 5,900. And under U.S. law, migrants have the right to claim asylum not just at ports of entry, but between ports of entry.

So it's going to impact potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants who have attempted to claim asylum between ports of entry. And immigration lawyers told me that they're fearful that this executive action is going to force some families to separate themselves, essentially parents sending their children across the border alone, since unaccompanied minors are not going to be prohibited to seek asylum wherever they claim asylum across the border.

Geoff Bennett:

The president today was flanked by some border town mayors, Democratic governors, Democratic House members.

Still, he's getting some incoming from other Democratic members of Congress and, of course, Republicans in Congress. Give us a sense of the reaction so far.

Republicans like Senator John Cornyn of Texas accuse President Biden of playing politics with this executive action.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):

It is a shell game. It is a shell game. They are not serious about it. This is a conversion based on the proximity of the next election and sinking poll numbers. And we think it deserves to be called out for what it is.

Laura Barrón-López:

Now, it's important to note, Geoff, that Senator Cornyn was one of the Republicans that voted against that bipartisan Senate border deal that President Biden negotiated with Republicans, with one of the most conservative Republicans that there is in the Senate, Senator James Lankford.

But President Biden also received some harsh criticism from Democrats.

REP. NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN (D-CA):

It's not a time for us to turn to Trump era policies. It's not time to go and use the tools that Trump used. That doesn't make this better or OK. On the contrary, we should not be looking to those policies. It didn't work under the prior administration and it's not going to work today under this administration.

Laura Barrón-López:

That's Congresswoman Nanette Barragan there. She's the chairwoman of the Hispanic Caucus. And she, along with a number of other Latino lawmakers, were not happy about this executive action.

But there were some Latino lawmakers that were present that were at the White House event today alongside the president.

Geoff Bennett:

And lastly, Laura, the president said he will have more to say on this in the coming days.

Based on your reporting, what might that entail?

Laura Barrón-López:

So, multiple sources told me, including some in the room, that, when President Biden met recently with leaders of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, that they asked Biden to not implement this executive order that he did today.

They asked him to not do it, but that they said that, if he had to do it, that they wanted him to accompany it with other actions that would potentially provide relief for undocumented migrants currently in the United States.

And so I'm told that the White House is considering some actions that would impact undocumented migrants currently in the U.S. that are married to U.S. citizens. And that could protect some 700,000 to one million undocumented migrants who are married to U.S. citizens. It would give those spouses protections, allowing them to potentially get work permits.

And that would take away the fear of deportation as they go along the process to get green cards.

Geoff Bennett:

Laura Barrón-López, you have been ahead of the pack with this reporting from the very start. Thanks so much.

Laura Barrón-López:

Thank you.