Senior Biden administration officials are considering actions that would make it nearly impossible to lift President Biden’s tough but temporary asylum restrictions, officials said Wednesday.
The move would essentially turn short-term fixes into a central feature of the asylum system in America. And it would be another sign that the country is moving away from the traditional American practice of offering protection to anyone who sets foot on US soil.
The changes under consideration will go ahead The executive order that Mr. Biden issued in JuneThat blocked most asylum claims at the southern border and allowed border agents to quickly turn people back.
US officials have said the order has been effective in deterring migrants and has dramatically reduced asylum claims.
The relative calm on the border comes as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, tries to fend off Republican attacks on immigration, which has proven to be a major liability among voters.
Under the June order, restrictions would be lifted when the number of people trying to cross illegally per day fell below 1,500 for a week, a concession meant to show progressive Democrats that Mr. Biden was only responding to — not creating — a surge at the border. permanent change.
So far, the numbers have not dipped below that level. Now, administration officials want to extend the required period of low crossings from a week to several weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the order.
White House officials say no decision has yet been made on changes to border policy. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said the president’s previous actions had succeeded in reducing illegal crossings by more than 50 percent, but declined to confirm that a new, tougher approach was under consideration.
Since Mr. Biden’s executive order went into effect, the number of arrests along the southern border has fallen sharply. In June, over 83,000 arrests were made, then in July this number dropped to just over 56,000. The number of arrests reached 58,000 in August, according to a Homeland Security official, but that number still pales in comparison to December, when roughly 250,000 migrants passed.
Immigration advocates have said the order blocked some migrants from being able to have their asylum claims heard and that the effort was overly restrictive. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in June, arguing that the order, among other things, violates the law by blocking asylum for immigrants entering the United States.
In court filings arguing against the lawsuit, US officials have said the order is a game changer on the ground. In a filing last month, the Department of Homeland Security said the order allowed government officials to deport most migrants apprehended at the border and reduced the number of migrants being released to the United States.
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