President Joe Biden is expected to announce new border restrictions on Tuesday, just after his border secretary introduced regulations that may allow illegal economic migrants to extend their stay in the United States.
The media supportive of Biden is highlighting this policy change positively. The announcement “marks a striking shift in the administration toward embracing tougher measures at the border,” Axios reported.
Pro-migration organizations are preparing to show opposition to Biden’s response to his controversial migration policies ahead of the election.
The new policy suggests a daily intake of 2,500 migrants, lower than the 4,000 daily inflow previously leaked to the media.
This could total 75,000 migrants per month, lower than the recent average of 125,000 border migrants per month, depending on whether the measure is upheld by California judges.
Despite the proposed curb, Biden’s pro-migration border chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, could still facilitate the entry of millions of additional migrants through various legal loopholes.
These loopholes include not detaining asylum-seekers and offering parole to at least 360,000 migrants annually from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela. Monthly figures also exclude those who evade capture (“getaways”) and unaccompanied minors who claim to be children.
Biden and Mayorkas have already outsourced much of the border security to Mexico to reduce media coverage of the migration issue.
In January, Biden’s team secured Mexico’s agreement to block more than 4,000 migrants per day from reaching the U.S. border, in exchange for the U.S. accepting more Mexican migrants. This arrangement has received little media attention, partly because it highlights what Biden didn’t negotiate in 2021, and shows Mexico’s interest in helping Biden win reelection in November.
“We have committed to the United States to reduce the flow to the border so it does not exceed 4,000 a day,” Mexico’s foreign minister said in mid-May. U.S. officials “can manage the crossing of 4,000 people along their border, but no more than 4,000,” Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena stated as she announced Mexico’s plans to regulate migration.
On Monday, Mexico elected new pro-migration president Claudia Sheinbaum. She has been critical of President Donald Trump, noting, “We will always defend Mexicans in the United States and oppose any discriminatory discourse.”
Biden’s upcoming EO is sure to be a loophole-laden election year gimmick that will be immediately challenged by his allies in court.
So many classes of aliens will be exempt from the crossings count, and his industrial scale parole program will quietly continue (30k per month). https://t.co/RYSxdxAlnn
— National Immigration Center for Enforcement (@NICEnforcement) June 2, 2024
The new rules complicate the removal proceedings, according to Eli Jacobs, regulatory affairs director at the Center for Immigration Studies, who told Truth Voices:
There are many in the Biden administration who consider the immigration system immoral and are taking every policy measure possible to ensure people can remain in the United States. They’ve implemented policies to mass-cancel cases while claiming to be working on the backlog. However, if a migrant is in litigation with the government, it will be a lengthy process. The backlog is used to cancel or close cases and to grant prosecutorial discretion when the alien is ineligible for any relief or benefit.
This regulation was announced on May 16 in a press release about a new policy to prioritize a small minority of recent migrants in deportation and asylum courts:
“Today, we are implementing with the Department of Justice a process to speed up asylum proceedings so that those who do not qualify for relief can be removed more quickly, and those who do qualify can achieve protection sooner,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. … Today, the Justice Department also submitted to the Federal Register a final rule titled Efficient Case and Docket Management in Immigration Proceedings. This rule codifies procedures and standards for immigration adjudicators nationwide to manage their dockets efficiently. Adjudicators can now prioritize cases ready for resolution, improving their workflow and efficiency. This rule is a significant step by the Justice Department to ensure the fair, expeditious, and efficient adjudication of immigration cases, maximize limited resources, and ensure procedural protections for parties in immigration court.
The number of migrants in courthouses ranges between 2.8 million and 3.6 million.
This is a 14-fold increase compared to 2008’s 186,000 cases, partly due to Mayorkas’ changes allowing more migrants to avoid detention from 2011 onwards, enabling them to work and pay off smuggling debts. Cartels used this leniency to assure potential migrants that it was financially safe to incur such debts.
TRAC Immigration, Syracuse University
This backlog also highlights how migrants can remain and work in the United States for years before appearing in court. Many use this time to smuggle their children into the U.S. through networks run by Mexico’s cartels and coyotes, facilitated by Biden’s federal agencies.
Mayorkas has also pressured judges to allow migrants to stay, even when they are clearly not eligible for asylum.
Under Biden, 380,000 migrants have been permitted to remain without asylum approval, compared to 25,000 under Trump.
TRAC Immigration, Syracuse University
Even if denied asylum or residency, migrants can appeal and explore additional legal avenues for residency and green cards.
The presence of this large migrant population benefits employers, landlords, and retailers but negatively impacts over 100 million Americans by lowering wages, increasing housing costs, and disrupting access to education amid the influx of economic migrants.
The backlog would take over 21 years to clear, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
Mayorkas is also directing billions of dollars annually through progressive civic organizations to help millions of migrants reach and settle in the U.S., occupying housing and jobs that would otherwise support Americans.
Biden’s migration policy results in lower wages, higher housing costs, increased interest rates, reduced productivity, and more civic unrest for 330 million Americans.
Biden’s policy is “flooding America’s labor pool with millions of low-wage illegal migrants, undermining the wages and opportunities of hard-working Americans,” according to a May statement from Donald Trump’s campaign.
However, Biden’s migration-driven economic policy brings substantial benefits to Democratic donors, including investors, government agencies, urban retailers, landlords, and employers.
