Immigrants waited overnight next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum in the United States on Jan. 7, 2023, as viewed from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
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Reflecting the political landscape when it comes to immigration, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Tuesday that would bar migrants from seeking asylum at the U.S.–Mexico border after entries exceed a certain point.
The policy is similar to what former President Donald Trump attempted to do in 2018, before being shut down by the courts. The plan would go into effect if the seven-day average for entries exceeds 2,500 per day.
The announcement is being blasted by members of a leading immigrant rights group based in Florida, who say they stand in “stark opposition” to it.
“Voters did not vote Trump out of office only to get Trump-era immigration policies under a Democratic administration,” said Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, federal campaign lead for the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
“Instead of ineffectively trying to be more anti-immigrant than Trump, the Biden administration should invest more in policies proven to work, such as expanding lawful pathways to citizenship and other protection programs like DACA, TPS [Temporary Protected Status], and work permits. The Biden administration cannot forget the promises made to immigrant communities and voters,” Mendez-Zamora said in a written statement.
Renata Bozzetto, deputy director for the coalition, said the problem is not asylum but “a system that has not adapted to the current needs, including restrictive entries and backlogs created by Trump-era policies which continue to be deprioritized and unaddressed by the Biden administration and members of Congress. There’s no need to posture to ‘look tough’ on an issue if you address it holistically.”
“Over the past few days, we have seen the Biden administration adopt many of the same anti-immigrant measures that we denounced under the Trump administration,” said Sarah M. Rich, the senior supervising attorney and interim senior policy counsel at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “In fact, this proclamation relies on the same statutory provision that the Trump administration relied upon to issue its infamous Muslim Ban in 2017.”
A Florida Chamber of Commerce poll released last month showed that immigration was the top concern among Florida voters at 16%. Property insurance was the second most important issue listed at 14%.
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