Internet divided as Joe Biden considers executive action to restrict asylum claims at US-Mexico border

WASHINGTON, DC: President Joe Biden and his administration are thinking about using new executive actions to curb the infiltration of migrants at the southern border, as per insiders. 

Politico reported that the White House is also debating about increasing the bar for asylum applicants by intensifying the "credible fear standard" and expeditiously deporting those who fail to meet it. 

Joe Biden considers executive action to turn away migrants

Biden is supposedly considering several executive moves, including invoking a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that would prohibit migrants from requesting asylum if they illegally enter the country through portions of the weak southern border that are not recognized as official entry ports.

The action would likely be tied to a trigger and wouldn't be put into place until a predetermined amount of unauthorized crossings are observed over an unspecified time.

A similar trigger mechanism was included in the bipartisan Senate border agreement, which was curbed by the Republicans earlier in February, as it would have allowed the POTUS to close the border if daily crossings surpassed 5,000 over a week.

Politico claims that Biden may announce the policy changes as early as next week, in time for his State of the Union speech on March 7. Nevertheless, whether or not to move forward with the executive steps is still up for debate.

As per the outlet, White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez noted, "The Administration spent months negotiating in good faith to deliver the toughest and fairest bipartisan border security bill in decades because we need Congress to make significant policy reforms and to provide additional funding to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system."

He further mentioned, "No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected."

Since Biden assumed office in 2021, US Customs and Border Protection officers have interacted with more than seven million migrants along the southwest border; of those, 961,537 have been encountered in the current fiscal year, according to CBP data as stated in a report by the New York Post. 

According to a Pew Research Center study published on February 15, 80% of respondents believed the government is failing to handle the record rise in migration, while only 18% of respondents said the administration is doing a good job dealing with migrants attempting to enter the US at the southern border.

Internet divided over the Biden's consideration of using new executive action to curb the migrant crisis

Soon after the news of Biden's thoughts of using new executive actions to solve the migrant crisis came to light, netizens shared their opinions on the possible move. 

One wrote, "That’s practically impossible, the right to seek asylum is a fundamental human right for all," while another added, "This should have happened 7 million crossings ago."

A person remarked, "Wait something he could have done years but didn’t? Now it’s election year and he can do it?" Someone else noted, "So Biden CAN make changes to border security policies without Congress. Good to know."

An individual mocked the POTUS saying, "How can this be? Biden said there's nothing he can do!"

"How about drop the various sanctions and embargoes and watch the numbers drop substantially," mentioned one more, while another person stated, "I feel bad for all of the honest migrants seeking aslym. I'm sure they've suffered a great deal to reach safety."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.