President Joe Biden is planning to issue an executive order this week that will partially shutdown the asylum process for migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report on Monday.
The move, which could be implemented as early as Tuesday, would allow immigration officials to quickly deport migrants who cross the southern border illegally by eliminating their option to seek asylum in the U.S.
The process of turning away asylum seekers would kick in when border crossings surpass a certain threshold, according to CBS News. That requirement would rely on a 1952 law known as 212(f) that would allow the president to "suspend the entry" of foreigners if their arrival is "detrimental to the interests " of the country.
Former president Donald Trump used that authority to enforce a so-called "travel ban" into the U.S. from Muslim countries during his administration.
Asylum processing for those following the legal guidelines of entry into the U.S. will still be conducted at centers at official border crossings where immigration officials are handling about 1,500 cases per day. Unaccompanied children are expected to be exempt from the new rules.
The latest numbers from federal officials show that nearly 6.5 million migrants have been stopped from crossing the border illegally during Biden's three and a half years in office, which is a record high for illegal immigration.
The problem has become a major presidential campaign issue for Biden, as he has been criticized by Republicans and Trump -- his presumed opponent in the November general election -- for being soft on immigration policies, even though migrant arrivals have dropped significantly this year.
The U.S. Border Patrol recorded 118,000 migrant apprehensions at the southern border in May, the third consecutive monthly drop, with 129,000 border detentions taking place in March and 137,000 in April. Those monthly numbers are less than half of the record-high 302,000 migrant encounters that took place in December 2023.
Political experts believe the new proposal will likely be challenged in court from either immigration advocates or from Republican-led states, even though a bipartisan border security deal failed earlier this year as a result of opposition from Republicans in Congress.
"While Congressional Republicans chose to stand in the way of additional border enforcement, President Biden will not stop fighting to deliver the resources that border and immigrational personnel need to secure our border," a White House spokesperson said in a statement.
"As we have said before, the administration continues to explore a series of policy options and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system."
A Gallup poll at the end of April showed that 27% of Americans view immigration as the most important issue facing the country, topping the economy and inflation.
