Local immigrant advocates react to Biden executive order restricting asylum at the border

Immigrant advocates in the Coachella Valley and throughout the nation are sharing reaction to the Biden Administration's newly announced an executive order that limits asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border.

A fact sheet released by the White House Tuesday states that the order will take effect "when high levels of encounters at the Southern Border exceed our ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today."

The order will go into effect when the number of border encounters between ports of entry hits 2,500 per day, according to senior administration officials. That means Biden’s order should go into effect immediately, because that figure is higher than the daily averages now.

The restrictions would be in effect until two weeks after the daily encounter numbers are at or below 1,500 per day between ports of entry, under a seven-day average. Those figures were first reported by The Associated Press on Monday.

Once this order is in effect, migrants who arrive at the border but do not express fear of returning to their home countries will be subject to immediate removal from the United States, within a matter of days or even hours. Those migrants would face punishments that could include a five-year bar from reentering the U.S., as well as potential criminal prosecution.

Meanwhile, anyone who expresses that fear or intention to seek asylum will be screened by a U.S. asylum officer but at a higher standard than what is currently used. If they pass the screening, they can pursue more limited forms of humanitarian protection, including the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

The American Civil Liberties Union has announced plans to sue the Biden Administration over the new rules. “We intend to challenge this order in court. It was illegal when Trump did it, and it is no less illegal now,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

News Channel 3 has reached out to Todec Legal Center in Coachella and the Galilee Center in Mecca to get reaction from leaders at these local organizations about the local impacts they anticipate due to the executive order.

Watch News Channel 3 at 5:00 p.m. tonight for the full report.