President Joe Biden revealed a fresh immigration executive order on Tuesday, following a prolonged period of asserting that he had no power to address the ongoing crisis at the southern border.
The executive action by Biden entails a temporary halt on new asylum requests when the daily average of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border reaches 2,500 over a week. Once the daily average drops back to 1,500, asylum requests can be resumed under the order.
“Today I am joined by a bipartisan group of governors, members of Congress, law enforcement officials, most of them live and work along the southern border. They know the border is not a political issue to be weaponized, the responsibility we share to do something about it. They don’t have time for the games played in Washington, and neither do the American people,” the president began.
“So today I am moving past Republican obstruction and using executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can to address the border,” he continued. “Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through bipartisan legislation because that is the only way to get the kind of system we have now that’s broken, fixed.”