New actions will bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum
Biden
taking action as Congressional Republicans put partisan politics ahead
of national security, twice voting against toughest reforms in decades
Since his first day in office, President Biden has called on
Congress to secure our border and address our broken immigration system.
Over the past three years, while Congress has failed to act, the
President has acted to secure our border. His Administration has
deployed the most agents and officers ever to address the situation at
the Southern border, seized record levels of illicit fentanyl at our
ports of entry, and brought together world leaders on a framework to
deal with changing migration patterns that are impacting the entire
Western Hemisphere.
Earlier this year, the President and his
team reached a historic bipartisan agreement with Senate Democrats and
Republicans to deliver the most consequential reforms of America’s
immigration laws in decades. This agreement would have added critical
border and immigration personnel, invested in technology to catch
illegal fentanyl, delivered sweeping reforms to the asylum system, and
provided emergency authority for the President to shut down the border
when the system is overwhelmed. But Republicans in Congress chose to put
partisan politics ahead of our national security, twice voting against
the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades.
President
Biden believes we must secure our border. That is why today, he
announced executive actions to bar migrants who cross our Southern
border unlawfully from receiving asylum. These actions will be in effect
when high levels of encounters at the Southern Border exceed our
ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today. They will
make it easier for immigration officers to remove those without a lawful
basis to remain and reduce the burden on our Border Patrol agents.
But
we must be clear: this cannot achieve the same results as Congressional
action, and it does not provide the critical personnel and funding
needed to further secure our Southern border. Congress still must act.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s executive actions will:
Bar Migrants Who Cross the Southern Border Unlawfully From Receiving Asylum
- President Biden issued a proclamation under Immigration and
Nationality Act sections 212(f) and 215(a) suspending entry of
noncitizens who cross the Southern border into the United States
unlawfully. This proclamation is accompanied by an interim final rule
from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security that restricts
asylum for those noncitizens.
- These actions will be in effect when the Southern border is
overwhelmed, and they will make it easier for immigration officers to
quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in
the United States.
- These actions are not permanent. They will be discontinued when the
number of migrants who cross the border between ports of entry is low
enough for America’s system to safely and effectively manage border
operations. These actions also include similar humanitarian exceptions
to those included in the bipartisan border agreement announced in the
Senate, including those for unaccompanied children and victims of
trafficking.
Recent Actions to secure our border and address our broken immigration system:
Strengthening the Asylum Screening Process
- The Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule to
ensure that migrants who pose a public safety or national security risk
are removed as quickly in the process as possible rather than remaining
in prolonged, costly detention prior to removal. This proposed rule will
enhance security and deliver more timely consequences for those who do
not have a legal basis to remain in the United States.
Announced new actions to more quickly resolve immigration cases
- The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security
launched a Recent Arrivals docket to more quickly resolve a portion of
immigration cases for migrants who attempt to cross between ports of
entry at the Southern border in violation of our immigration laws.
- Through this process, the Department of Justice will be able to hear
these cases more quickly and the Department of Homeland Security will
be able to more quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis
to remain in the United States and grant protection to those with valid
claims.
- The bipartisan border agreement would have created and supported an
even more efficient framework for issuing final decisions to all asylum
seekers. This new process to reform our overwhelmed immigration system
can only be created and funded by Congress.
Revoked visas of CEOs and government officials who profit from migrants coming to the U.S. unlawfully
- The Department of State imposed visa restrictions on executives of
several Colombian transportation companies who profit from smuggling
migrants by sea. This action cracks down on companies that help
facilitate unlawful entry into the United States, and sends a clear
message that no one should profit from the exploitation of vulnerable
migrants.
- The State Department also imposed visa restrictions on over 250
members of the Nicaraguan government, non-governmental actors, and their
immediate family members for their roles in supporting the
Ortega-Murillo regime, which is selling transit visas to migrants from
within and beyond the Western Hemisphere who ultimately make their way
to the Southern border.
- Previously, the State Department revoked visas of executives of charter airlines for similar actions.
Expanded Efforts to Dismantle Human Smuggling and Support Immigration Prosecutions
- The Departments of State and Justice launched an “Anti-Smuggling
Rewards” initiative designed to dismantle the leadership of human
smuggling organizations that bring migrants through Central America and
across the Southern U.S. border. The initiative will offer financial
rewards for information leading to the identification, location, arrest,
or conviction of those most responsible for significant human smuggling
activities in the region.
- The Department of Justice will seek new and increased penalties
against human smugglers to properly account for the severity of their
criminal conduct and the human misery that it causes.
- The Department of Justice is also partnering with the Department of
Homeland Security to direct additional prosecutors and support staff to
increase immigration-related prosecutions in crucial border U.S.
Attorney’s Offices. Efforts include deploying additional DHS Special
Assistant United States Attorneys to different U.S. Attorneys’ offices,
assigning support staff to critical U.S. Attorneys’ offices, including
DOJ Attorneys to serve details in U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in several
border districts, and partnering with federal agencies to identify
additional resources to target these crimes.
Enhancing Immigration Enforcement
- The Department of Homeland Security has surged agents to the
Southern border and is referring a record number of people into
expedited removal.
- The Department of Homeland Security is operating more repatriation
flights per week than ever before. Over the past year, DHS has removed
or returned more than 750,000 people, more than in every fiscal year
since 2010.
- Working closely with partners throughout the region, the
Biden-Harris Administration is identifying and collaborating on
enforcement efforts designed to stop irregular migration before migrants
reach our Southern border, expand investment and integration
opportunities in the region to support those who may otherwise seek to
migrate, and increase lawful pathways for migrants as an alternative to
irregular migration.
Seizing Fentanyl at our Border
- Border officials have seized more fentanyl at ports of entry in the
last two years than the past five years combined, and the President has
added 40 drug detection machines across points of entry to disrupt the
fentanyl smuggling into the Homeland. The bipartisan border agreement
would fund the installation of 100 additional cutting-edge inspection
machines to help detect fentanyl at our Southern border ports of entry.
- In close partnership with the Government of Mexico, the Department
of Justice has extradited Nestor Isidro Perez Salaz, known as “El Nini,”
from Mexico to the United States to face prosecution for his role in
illicit fentanyl trafficking and human rights abuses. This is one of
many examples of joint efforts with Mexico to tackle the fentanyl and
synthetic drug epidemic that is killing so many people in our countries
and globally, and to hold the drug trafficking organizations to account.
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