Senior Biden administration officials are considering actions that would make President Biden’s tough but temporary asylum restrictions almost impossible to lift, officials said Wednesday.
The move would essentially turn what had been a short-term fix into a central feature of the asylum system in America. And it would be yet another sign that the country is moving away from the traditional American practice of allowing anyone who steps foot on U.S. soil the opportunity to seek protection.
The changes under consideration would build on the executive order that Mr. Biden issued in June, which blocked a vast majority of asylum claims at the southern border and allowed border agents to turn people back quickly.
U.S. officials have said that the order has been effective in deterring migrants and has led to a dramatic drop-off in asylum claims.
The relative calm at the border comes as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, tries to fend off Republican attacks over immigration, which has proved to be a major liability among voters.
Under the June order, the restrictions would lift when the number of people trying to cross illegally each day drops below 1,500 for one week, a concession meant to show progressive Democrats that Mr. Biden was merely responding to a surge at the border — not making a permanent change.
So far, the numbers have not fallen below that level. Now, administration officials want to extend that required period of lower crossings from one week to several weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the order.
White House officials say no decision has been made yet on changes to border policy. A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said the president’s earlier action had been successful in reducing illegal crossings by more than 50 percent, but declined to confirm that a new, tougher approach was under consideration.
Since Mr. Biden’s executive order went into effect, the number of arrests at the southern border has dropped precipitously. In June, more than 83,000 arrests were made, then in July the number went down further to just over 56,000 arrests. Arrests in August ticked up to 58,000, according to a homeland security official, but those figures still pale in comparison to the record figures in December when around 250,000 migrants crossed.
Immigration advocates have said the order has blocked some migrants from being able to get their asylum claims heard and that the effort was overly restrictive. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in June arguing that the order, among other things, violated the law by blocking asylum for migrants who cross into the United States.
In court filings arguing against the lawsuit, U.S. officials have said the order has been a game changer on the ground. In a filing last month, the Department of Homeland Security said that the order had allowed government officials to deport most of the migrants apprehended at the border and reduce the number of migrants allowed release into the United States.
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