Procedural Barriers and the ‘Right to Seek’ Asylum in the Biden Era

On June 5, 2024, President Biden’s ‘Proclamation on Securing the Border’ went into full effect, with the stated purpose of suspending and limiting ‘[t]he entry of any noncitizen into the United States across the southern border’. According to the Proclamation, and with limited exceptions, the limitation and suspension of US/Mexico border entries is only to be lifted two weeks after average border encounters of migrants reach a ‘7-consecutive-calendar-day average of less than 1,500’.

The limitation and suspension would then kick in again anytime there ‘has been a 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of 2,500 encounters or more.’ With the average number of border encounters rising well over 150-250,000 in recent months, the Proclamation is poised to bring about drastic change on traditional reception and asylum procedure at the southern border.

This move is yet another regulation among the patchwork of executive actions in the past year from the Biden administration that seek to control high migrant encounter rates at the southern border which are seen as a huge political liability in an election year.

The Proclamation joins the post-Title-42 ‘Asylum Transit Ban’ regulation (known officially as the ‘Circumvention of Lawful Pathways’ rule) which began in May of 2023, and an additional ‘Application of Certain Mandatory Bars in Fear Screenings’ rule still pending final publication. Together these regulations have formed a restrictive border regime drastically limiting asylum eligibility for many would-be seekers.