Biden plans to sign executive order limiting the number of asylums on the US-Mexico border

US media say President Joe Biden will issue an executive order Tuesday that will sharply limit the number of people seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to administration officials, the order would effectively close the border once the weekly average of daily encounters reaches 2,500 between points of entry. The order would take effect immediately upon Biden’s signature, as that number is already well above that threshold.

The president 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 any class of immigrants entering the country. considered “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

Former President Donald Trump relied on this Section 212(f) to enact some of his toughest immigration actions, including the so-called “Muslim ban” when he banned immigration and travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations, and a policy of “zero tolerance” for illegal border crossings, leading to the separation of thousands of children from their parents. Trump has promised to resume hardline immigration policies if he is re-elected in November.

Media outlets say Biden is taking action after most Senate Republicans, and some Democrats, rejected a bipartisan border security bill in February after Trump openly opposed it.

Several mayors of cities located near the border between the United States and Mexico have been invited to the White House to witness the signing of the executive order.

Biden administration officials had waited out the presidential elections in Mexicowhich were carried out on Sunday, to move forward with the president’s border plans.

Mexico elected Claudia Sheinbaum as president, and Biden said in a statement Monday that he was committed to “advancing the values ​​and interests of both nations for the benefit of our people.” The two had a telephone conversation Monday, although White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether they discussed the order.

The executive order will allow Biden to declare that he has gone beyond the limits of his own authority after lawmakers, particularly Republicans, rolled back what would have been the toughest border and asylum restrictions in a long time. Biden’s executive order aims to curb any possible spike in border encounters toward the end of this year, close to the November presidential election.

[Parte de la información para este informe provino de The Associated Press].

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