Biden: What is the new executive order that restricts the entry and asylum of illegal immigrants and accelerates deportations in the United States?

On Tuesday, United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order to restrict illegal immigrants’ access to the country and make it more difficult to obtain asylum.

This announcement comes 5 months before the presidential elections, in which the issue of illegal immigration is one of the central issues, and while thousands of illegal immigrants continue to arrive daily at the southern border of the United States.

The executive order provides for temporary measures to prevent these persons from obtaining asylum when authorities deem the southern border “Overflowing“.

“This measure will help us control our borders,” Biden declared in a public appearance.

According to Undersecretary of Border and Immigration Policy, Blas Nuñez Neto, the new restrictions It will come into effect from midnight on Tuesday It will speed up migrations.

“The announcement made today includes a series of measures that significantly increase the consequences for people who illegally cross our southern border,” Nuñez Neto said.

“They will significantly increase the proportion of people who will be immediately returned to their countries of origin,” he added.

In a conference with the media, White House officials explained in detail the new immigration policy It will be activated every time the authorities record more than 2,500 arrests per day for a week, and it will be stopped if it drops to less than 1,500 in the same period.

During the month of May, some 3,800 migrants cross the border every dayThis resulted in a total of 118,000 arrests that month, a high number but below the maximum levels recorded last December when 250,000 cases were surpassed.

“We expect these measures to remain in place for some time. They are not permanent, they are subject to them,” he added [números]“Nunez Neto said.

Once the executive order is activated, the following actions will be implemented:

According to Nuñez Neto, this will allow the US authorities to “return more people to their homeland, much faster.” Migrants arriving at the border with an appointment via the app CBP One will be able to continue their asylum application.

In recent years, many illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border of the United States and then turned themselves in to authorities and applied for asylum. But new rules make the practice vulnerable to deportation.

Biden’s executive order states that immigrants who do not express a fear of returning to their home countries after crossing the border will be expelled from the United States. Within days or even hoursA special ban will be imposed on them for a period of 5 years from entering the country.

Officials explained that, as has happened so far, Mexico will continue to receive its deported citizens, in addition to a limited number of migrants. Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Biden stressed that the measures announced on Tuesday “will not be to distance us from who we are as Americans,” but rather “to ensure that we preserve our identity for future generations.”

The presidential order comes Five months before the November 5 electionswhere Biden and former President Donald Trump are expected to face each other and where illegal immigration is presented as one of the most important topics of discussion.

After announcing the new restrictions, Biden tried to distance himself from Trump, who is known for his hard-line positions on immigration policy.

“I would never refer to immigrants as Those who poison the blood of this country“, referring to the controversial statement made by his rival in an interview in October last year.

Biden also criticized the GOP for blocking a bipartisan border security agreement in the Senate this year that included several new measures announced.

Biden specifically blamed Donald Trump, who publicly pressured Republican lawmakers to oppose the agreement.

“Donald Trump asked them to do it (…) He didn’t want to solve the problem. He wanted to use it to attack me,” Biden claimed, accusing his rival of promoting a “very cynical political measure.”

In his remarks, Biden praised the Mexican government for its recent efforts Stop the flow of migrants before they reach the border With the United States.

The number of arrests of illegal immigrants at the border has decreased in recent months, partly due to the work of Mexican authorities.

“Because of the agreements, the number of migrants illegally arriving at our shared border has declined significantly,” Biden said.

The President praised his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and confirmed this He will continue to work with his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Lopez Obrador stated that he would speak with Biden on Tuesday, but he did not express his opinion on the new order specifically.

He reiterated that his position before the United States is to “address the causes of migration, and that people no longer think about walls, nor about militarizing the borders, nor about closing the borders.”

while, Local authorities responsible for managing immigration in the Mexican border states fear that the measures announced by Biden will cause shelters to become saturated. And “border crossing chaos.”

“The number at which the borders will be closed to asylum seekers has not been determined, but if it takes effect once the daily number of 2,500 people is exceeded, what will happen to the rest?” asked Enrique Lucero, director of the Municipality of Migrant Aid. Tijuana, a Mexican city located on the border with San Diego in California, which this year became the main point of irregular crossing on the entire border.

“On Monday, there were 3,500 undocumented crossings along the entire border. In this case, What will happen to the thousand who have already crossed? Where will they be returned? He told BBC Mundo: “What will they do to asylum seekers who are not Mexican, but arrived from China, India or Turkey?”

Citizens from 130 countries travel through the Mexican state of Baja California with the aim of crossing into the United States.

“This is what needs to be made clear, if Mexico is going to receive foreign migrants returning from the United States, because if that is the case, we will allocate aid to those foreign migrants who do not have the money to pay for a hotel and they will go there.” Occupy a refuge, and This worries us: that the shelters will be full and we will see migrants sleeping in tents“.

The 33 shelters in Tijuana have a capacity of 5,500 people. Today, according to Lucero, after the number of arrivals decreased by 60%, they are home to 3,500 people. “But if the measure goes into effect (using the numbers), they will be already crowded in a few days.”

The United States government also has an agreement in place with Mexico that binds that country to this We accept up to 30,000 citizens per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela Those who have been banned from entering the United States.

On the other hand, there is the Humanitarian Parole Program that allows up to 30,000 asylum seekers to legally enter the United States each month from the four countries mentioned above.

Experts believe that the recent reduction in border crossings is only temporary and ultimately unsustainable.

Some immigration activists criticized the move taken by the Biden administration shortly after its announcement.

“It is unfortunate that politics is taking the conversation about immigration in an increasingly restrictive direction,” said Jenny Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.

“While there is no doubt that the United States needs to better address challenges at the border, the use of legislative authority is troubling,” he added.

Gerlene Joseph, executive director of the Haiti Bridge Coalition, which works with Haitian migrants at the border, called for the announcement. “A direct attack on the fundamental human right to seek asylum.”.

“This Trump-era policy will leave thousands of vulnerable people, including families, children and those fleeing violence and persecution, without the protection and shelter they need,” Joseph added.

In his speech, Biden responded to the criticism by asking for “patience.”

“We are overwhelmed at the moment. Doing nothing is not an option“, Lawsuit.

He added that the United States must “act” and be “consistent with our law and our values.”