President Joe Biden is expected to announce an executive action on Tuesday that will mark the most aggressive plan to crackdown immigration through the southern border. As the administration prepares for the announcement, Texas border mayors are making the pilgrimage to DC to show their support for the executive order, the Associated Press reports.
The Biden administration is expected to issue the long-anticipated order as soon as Tuesday. The sweeping move would allow border officials to prevent migrants from claiming asylum and rapidly turn them away once border crossings have exceeded a threshold.
The order would represent the single most restrictive border policy instituted by Biden, or any modern Democrat. It not only echoes a 2018 effort by President Donald Trump to block migration, but also the failed bipartisan bill that would have provided billions in funding for the border, including the hiring of thousands of asylum offices to process claims.
Among the confirmed invitees are Brownsville Mayor John Cowen and Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza. Meanwhile, the Democratic mayor of Eagle Pass said he had not received an invitation as of Sunday. The White House has not yet confirmed other mayors who were invited to the function.
The measures considered are an attempt to ease the system's overwhelmed asylum requests, along with a new effort to speed up the cases of migrants already in America and another meant to quicken processing for migrants with criminal records or those who would otherwise be eventually deemed ineligible for asylum in the U.S.
Following its announcement, the order is expected to meet legal challenges as Biden faces increased pressures to address illegal migration, a top concern for voters ahead of this year's election.
"Legislation is what is needed," Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said last month. "Executive action will be challenged. I am confident in that. And then the question will be what is the outcome of those proceedings? Legislation is a more certain delivery of solution."
But despite clamors to crackdown on immigration, Congress has faced major difficulties in passing legislation. For instance, Senate Republicans last week again blocked a bill that would have enshrined some anti-immigration efforts into law. The vote was meant to underscore GOP resistance to the proposal even as Republicans have asked for more restrictions and argued that Biden is not doing enough to stifle the flow of migrants, the Associated Press reports.
Following the vote, White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez said the administration "continues to explore a series of policy options and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system."
"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 immigration personnel need to secure our border," he continued.
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