Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday measures allowing the temporary closure of the United States border with Mexico in the event of a surge in arrivals of illegal migrants, a move to the right to try to seduce part of the electorate in the middle of the campaign for to stay in the White House against Donald Trump.
The Democratic president, 81, will sign a long-announced decree intended to limit the arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers when their number exceeds 2,500 per day. Authorities would then be authorized to expel those who crossed the border without the necessary papers, according to American media.
Due to the current number of illegal entries, the measure could be implemented immediately, they specify. Restrictions would only be lifted when arrivals fell below 1,500.
This immigration policy, one of the most restrictive ever adopted by a Democratic president, would bring him closer to the positions of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump while all polls show that the subject weighs heavily on Joe Biden’s chances of re-election in November next.
Donald Trump’s campaign team dismissed the proposed decree as a desperate attempt to appeal to the most conservative electorate.
“Joe the crook is just pretending to secure the border because he is sinking in the polls,” she said, once again accusing illegal migrants of being at the origin of a wave of crime in the UNITED STATES.
However, neither the police statistics available in large American cities nor the studies carried out by experts show the reality of such a phenomenon.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the measures should be announced by the Biden government during the day on Tuesday. The White House, however, would not confirm reports that the president would sign the decree alongside mayors of border towns.
“What I can say is that we are constantly examining all possible options to try to resolve the problems linked to the immigration system, which has not worked for decades,” commented Monday White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
Risky strategy
A text providing funding to toughen immigration policy, negotiated for months in Congress by the two parties as part of aid projects for Ukraine and Israel, was rejected at the start of the year by the Republicans, she recalled.
“They decided to play partisan politics,” blasted Mme Jean Pierre.
With this toughening of immigration, Joe Biden is adopting a risky strategy.
These measures could in fact arouse the anger of the left wing of his party, this decree being based on a law previously used by the Trump government to prohibit entry into the United States to nationals of several Muslim countries.
In any event, they should be challenged in court.
As the November presidential election approaches, Republicans are seeking to make immigration the central topic of debate, accusing Joe Biden of being responsible for an “invasion.”
His predecessor, Donald Trump, who during his mandate built sections of wall on the Mexican border, uses increasingly incendiary rhetoric towards migrants, accusing them of “poisoning the blood” of the country.
In the 12 months leading up to October 2023, 2.4 million people were intercepted at the border with Mexico, a record.
By December, some 10,000 people, driven by poverty and violence in Latin America, were crossing the border illegally every day. This number has since dropped, but the subject remains hot.
Joe Biden’s administration has also sought to reduce migrant arrivals by working with Mexico and other countries, but polls show some voters say it’s not enough.