The White House on Thursday signaled President Joe Biden has no immediate plans to roll back his executive order restricting asylum applications even as southern border crossings have dipped to Trump-era levels.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre underscored that Customs and Border Protection recorded its lowest number of encounters with illegal immigrants in July and last month since September 2020. Encounters last month were 68% lower than in August 2023, with average daily encounters decreasing by 50% since June when Biden took the executive action.
“I don’t have any changes to speak to, any change in policy,” Jean-Pierre told the Washington Examiner.
Biden’s executive order, which curtails opportunities for migrants who cross the border illegally to apply for asylum, remains in effect when there are “high levels of encounters,” specifically when the daily average is 1,500 encounters. Last month’s daily average was approximately 2,000, edging closer to the threshold that could trigger a rollback.
“We’ve taken this action because congressional Republicans refuse to act,” Jean-Pierre said in reference to bipartisan legislation that failed in the Senate. “We’re going to continue to deal with an issue that the majority of Americans care about, right? Which is making sure that the border’s protected, dealing with the border security without the help of congressional Republicans, who have gotten in the way and do not provide, want to provide more assistance, more resources.”
“If they were to pass that bipartisan border deal, we would have additional resources to actually deal with this without, without the actions that the president has taken,” she continued.
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Immigration and the border is a top concern for voters before November’s election, with Vice President Kamala Harris being criticized by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans for her role as the member of the Biden administration responsible for responding to the root causes of migration.
An increase in illegal border crossings before Nov. 5 could create political problems for Harris, with polls indicating voters trust Trump more regarding immigration and related matters.