The Biden administration released new rules on Tuesday that are meant to keep migrants who enter the U.S. illegally at the southern border from getting refuge. However, some experts are already questioning the move.
The steps taken by President Joe Biden are meant to stop refugee requests at the U.S.-Mexico border right away. This is because they go into effect when 2,500 migrants are encountered every day at the border, and lately that number has been higher every day.
Senior Biden administration officials said they think the actions will have an effect on illegal immigration at the border because people who want to come to the U.S. will know that they will be sent back quickly instead of being allowed to stay for years while the courts process their cases.
Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, said early Wednesday that the goal of the executive action is to direct people who want refuge toward legal paths and cut down on encounters at the border.
In an interview with MSNBC, Mayorkas stressed that Congress still needs to take action, even though Biden was acting within the limits of his power as president.
He said that he thinks the U.S.’s “very strong, production partnership with Mexico” under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will continue under President Claudia Sheinbaum. He also said that the effort to better control the southern border is a regional one.
Analysts have questions about whether the measures can be put into action and whether they will appeal to voters choosing between Biden and Donald Trump, who is expected to be the Republican nominee for president this year.
Recent polls show that immigration is still a big problem for voters and that they think the GOP is better able to solve it. This is why Democrats want to take more action on immigration, according to a note from analysts at Beacon Policy Research. They also said that the move comes after the Senate, which is run by Democrats, voted last month on a joint border bill “in hopes of putting the blame for Republicans’ inaction on immigration policy on them.”
“Democrats and the Biden administration think that their actions at the border can help even out the GOP’s immigration advantage, but we are less sure,” the analysts said. The Beacon team says that problems will include the measures possibly never being fully put into place because of expected cases and enforcement issues if the U.S. Border Patrol doesn’t get more resources.
The ACLU said in a post on social media on Tuesday afternoon that it would be going to court to fight the Biden administration’s move.
The founder of Pangaea Policy, Terry Haines, called the new rules a “nothingburger.”
In a note, Haines said, “Biden’s been teasing border security executive action since February to respond to and show leadership on an issue that might determine the fate of his presidency.” The new move, he added, “doesn’t make a positive difference for Biden in crucial swing states.”
Dylan Johnson, who is the deputy head of communications for the Trump campaign, said bad things about the Democratic incumbent in a statement. The vice president can act like he cares about border security, but Johnson said that people will know it’s just an act to boost his poll numbers.
Biden, for his part, criticized Republican lawmakers for not supporting the bipartisan border bill months ago, even though Trump told them to do so.
The president said in a short speech on Tuesday afternoon, “I’ve come here today to do what Republicans in Congress refused to do: take the steps we need to secure our border.” “To be honest, I would have liked to see this problem solved by legislation that came from both parties.”
Early this year, Gallup polls showed that immigration was the biggest problem in the U.S. for three months in a row. However, last month, the issue was talked about less, according to an analytics business.
