The Biden administration announced an executive order Tuesday that it claims would shut down the US-Mexico border once border crossings hit 2,500 per day between points of entry for seven consecutive days — a “crackdown” that will still permit 1.75 million new arrivals into America every year even if enforced properly.
The order, which is expected to take effect immediately, would lift border restrictions two weeks after the number of crossings averages 1,500 for seven days straight, senior administration officials said in a background call previewing President Biden’s announcement, set for 2 p.m.
The new restrictions include several exceptions, such as allowing migrants to cross the border who use the CBP One mobile application at a port of entry, as well as “lawful permanent residents, unaccompanied children, victims of a severe form of trafficking, those who face an acute medical emergency or an imminent an extreme threat to life and safety and other non citizens who have a valid visa or some other lawful permission to enter the United States,” the officials said.
Even if migration is limited to 2,500 per day for a full calendar year, the number of crossings would hit 912,500 — a historic high compared to the rest of the century.
Hundreds of thousands more have been allowed into the US using the CBP One app, with CBS News reporting in February that 450,000 migrants had gained admission in the 13 months since the program was announced by Biden in January 2023.
Additionally, Biden has ushered in roughly 400,000 more migrants into the country through a mass parole scheme allowing Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly directly to America.
An earlier version of the order, sources told The Post last month, was set to cap migrant entries at ports of entry and between ports of entry at 4,000 per day on average — a total of 1.46 million over a full year.
“So it’s going to take 4,000 illegal immigrants a day OR 1.46 million a year for Biden to even consider taking action on our southern border?” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) previously posted on X in response to the proposed order.
“Why wait for the country to reach a breaking point when Biden could shut the border down TODAY if he wanted?” she exclaimed.
Other congressional Republicans dismissed Biden’s move as an election-year stunt, since he already had rolled back Trump administration immigration policies via executive orders, including halting construction of a border wall as well as ending Title 42 and Remain in Mexico policies which kept birder numbers down.
Those latter policies stemmed the flow of migrants on the southern border in particular by more than 70%, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in February.
Since Biden entered office in January 2021, nearly 7 million migrants have been recorded entering illegally nationwide and roughly 1.7 million are known to have sneaked in without arrest.
In January, Biden, 81, said he had “asked” for the power to control the border “from the very day I got into office” and told reporters at this point he had “done all I can do.”
“Just give me the power,” he said at the time. “Give me the Border Patrol, give me the people, the judges — give me the people who can stop this and make it work right.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called on Democrats to pass new border legislation, calling its last effort “the strongest border security bill we’ve seen in a generation” while acknowledging not every member of his caucus voted for it.
Federal authorities apprehended an average of 5,990 migrants per day on the southern border in April, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a number which does not include the known “gotaways” who aren’t captured.
Most of those arrested are then given court orders and released into the US to seek asylum.
Former President Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary said in 2019 that 1,000 illegal crossings per day would constitute an overwhelming crisis at the southern border.