Asylum-seeking migrants will be barred from crossing over the US-Mexico border without prior authorization once a daily quota of 2,500 is met under an executive order signed Tuesday by President Joe Biden, NBC News reported.
Under the order, migrants that meet certain exemptions, like unaccompanied children or others with immediate fears of violence, will still be permitted to apply for asylum, an international legal right, on days the quota is met. The border will only reopen to others after the number of daily crossings falls to 1,500, the senior administration claims.
“The action will not ban people based on their religion, it will not separate kids from their mothers, there are also narrow humanitarian exceptions to the bar on asylum, including for those facing an acute medical emergency or an imminent and extreme threat to life or safety — the Trump administration's actions did not include these exceptions,” one official said, CNN reported.
During a Tuesday call with reporters, senior administration officials revealed that migrants will be removed immediately should they not meet the “credible fear” requirement when applying for asylum. Officials said they “anticipate that we will be removing those individuals in a matter of days, if not hours,” NBC News reported.
In 2018, the Trump administration attempted a similar border restriction but the courts blocked it.
One Biden official predicted there would be legal challenges, “frankly, from both sides of the political spectrum.”
Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union told Axios that it plans to file one of those challenges itself.
"We intend to sue," the ACLU's Lee Gelernt told the publication. "A ban on asylum is illegal just as it was when Trump unsuccessfully tried it."
