The Bottom Line Upfront
President Joe Biden has issued an executive order to suspend most asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border when unauthorized crossings exceed 2,500 per day.
The Breakdown
- This is in response to the record number of migrant encounters at the southern border over the past two decades.
- This decision underscores significant changes to America's asylum policies and seeks immediate solutions for a complex immigration system that many deem broken. The move attempts to balance national security concerns with humanitarian considerations amidst political pressures from both parties.
- Noncitizens crossing illegally will be ineligible for asylum.
- Standards for credible fear interviews are now more stringent.
- Criticism flows from all sides as immigrant rights organizations decry these measures while some centrists cautiously support Biden’s decisive action due to Republican opposition stalling legislative fixes in Congress.
- ACLU plans legal actions against this order.
