Biden Signs Executive Order For Near-Total Ban On Asylum-Seekers
Immigration at the US-Mexico border hit an all-time high at the end of 2023, and into this year has been a key issue on the minds of working-class people.
Attacks on immigrants from prominent Republicans, from Trump’s ramping up of anti-immigrant rhetoric on the campaign trail, to Governor Abbott’s repulsive eviction of over 37,000 migrants to sanctuary cities across the US, have sought to exacerbate anti-immigrant sentiment that pits asylum-seekers fleeing economic hardship and political repression against US-born workers facing a struggle to stay afloat.
In the wake of these attacks, many people are left hoping that the Democratic Party will take a sharp turn away from further riling up xenophobia and take decisive action in favor of strengthening immigration protections across the US.
Instead, Biden has displayed the exact opposite of this. In a stark parallel to four years of vicious Trumpian gutting of immigrant rights, Biden has signed an executive order aimed at further eliminating options for asylum seekers in the US.
On June 4, Biden used his executive authority to set new policies that would highly restrict asylum-seeking migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border.
The order prevents migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum, as long as the daily average of border crossings remains over 2,500, a threshold that is currently far exceeded.
Already faced with a dehumanizing and inhumane immigration system, migrants will now be turned away by the thousands, instead sent back over the Mexico border or to the very home countries they are desperate to flee. This is a flagrant attempt from the Biden administration at enacting a near-total ban on immigration.
