Biden should establish a rule allowing the US-Mexico border to be temporarily closed to contain illegal immigration

In an aggressive shift in his immigration policy, United States President Joe Biden will announce, on Tuesday (4), a rule that will allow him to temporarily close the United States border with Mexico.

Measures, The most extreme immigration policy his administration has pursued to dateIt is considered Trying to get more votes from dissatisfied voters With recent records of immigrants entering the country.

As the order said, according to the Associated Press:

• Reduces the odds that immigrants will be granted asylum – Currently, anyone who arrives illegally in the United States can apply for and receive an asylum and refugee visa if they can prove that they have been persecuted or are escaping a conflict situation. It was not clear, until the publication of this report, how this reduction would be achieved.
• imposes a The daily limit is 2,500 people Allowed between the borders, in the area of ​​request and analysis of asylum applications – in these cases, the reception office for these applications, located in the border areas, will be closed and will not reopen until this number is reduced to 1,500 people.

The executive order will be signed at a White House ceremony to which Biden has invited a series of mayors — including Republicans — from cities in Texas bordering Mexico.

This is Biden’s second attempt to regulate the entry of migrants at the border with Mexico. The first was a bipartisan agreement reached by Democrats and Republicans. But this measure ended up not being approved after Republican representatives abandoned it at the request of former US President Donald Trump.

Trump, Joe Biden’s main competitor in the election race for the White House, realized that the American President, the Democrat, would benefit electorally from passing the bill.

That’s because public opinion on immigrant entry changed after arrivals hit a historic record in December 2023. At that time, about 250,000 people tried to enter the United States through the border with Mexico.

This number has already fallen by half in April this year, according to data from the US government itself, but Biden wants to prevent entries from increasing until November, when elections are held in the country.

According to sources that the New York Times spoke to, Biden was only waiting for the election results in Mexico to be determined before announcing the executive order, so that the matter would not extend to the election campaign.

But this measure may constitute a stumbling block in the way of establishing a good relationship between the United States and the new government. In a speech after her election victory, Claudia Sheinbaum said: “We will always defend Mexicans on the other side of the border.”

In congratulating Sheinbaum, Biden said he looked forward to “working closely with President-elect Sheinbaum in a spirit of cooperation and friendship that reflects the enduring relationship between our two countries.”

But the president did not mention the immigration issue and the executive order.