TEXAS, USA — Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Texas Tribune here.
A new plan from President Joe Biden to temporarily stop granting asylum to migrants if illegal crossings pass a certain threshold was met Tuesday with condemnation in Texas from elected officials of both parties, while concern spread among groups that advocate for migrant's rights about the immediate danger it will present to an already vulnerable population.
The proclamation signed Tuesday by Biden will largely suspend entry of noncitizens into the country beginning 12:01 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, according to the order. Exceptions include permanent U.S. residents and unaccompanied children.
The limitations are to be discontinued two weeks after there has been an average of less than 1,500 migrant encounters between official ports of entry for seven consecutive days. The restrictions would resume when there has been an average of 2,500 encounters or more for seven consecutive days.
Biden said he did “what I can on my own to address the border” because Republicans in Congress failed to take up a bipartisan border security deal brokered in the Senate earlier this year. That deal fell apart after former President Donald Trump denounced it as not going far enough. Democrats said Trump was cynically killing the legislation to keep migration a problem Trump could campaign on.
"The border is not a political issue to be weaponized. It's a responsibility we have to share and do something about," Biden said from the White House. "Today I'm announcing actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from seeking asylum."
In Texas, migrant advocacy and civil rights groups blasted the order, which they said resembles failed policies of past administrations and will put many migrants at risk of violence as they wait on the Mexican side of the southern border to secure an asylum appointment with U.S. officials following already-treacherous journeys north.
Domingo Garcia is the president of the National League of United Latin American Citizens.
He said he agrees with President Biden's executive order but knows more work needs to be done to solve the issue at the border.
“It's just a great human tragedy,” said Garcia. “We do need to seal the border and put an orderly process where migrants come through a gate and are vetted, and we make sure if they'll have asylum or not.”
Garcia said he’s taken multiple trips to the border, calling what he witnessed as a “great human tragedy.”
“Many of them, families, a lot of them are children. It's been terrible,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat running for Senate, issued a statement of support for the measure.
“Our border communities need more than talking points and photo ops, they need action,” Allred said in the statement. “And while I have been critical of this administration’s approach to the border, if it is implemented correctly this executive order could bring long overdue relief to our border communities."
Meanwhile, other Republicans are criticizing the order. In a press conference, Louisiana Senator John Neely Kennedy said,” It’s a little late isn't it Mr. President? It's a little late.”
Moments later, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said, “The only policy that will work is mass deportation. Because people will stop coming when they see people leaving.”
In Eagle Pass, Mayor Rolando Salinas, who wasn't invited to join Biden for the announcement Tuesday, questioned why the president did not take executive action last year amid record migration in the city or in response to Salinas’ pleas to the federal government for help.
“If he could have done this all along why didn’t he do this last year when our city got slammed — they closed the bridge, businesses were hurting, our first responders were struggling,” Salinas said Tuesday morning. “Why now?”
Gov. Greg Abbott said the president took action now because he's in a heated reelection battle against Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
"Since his first day in office, President Biden dismantled all of his predecessor’s successful border policies, encouraging millions of illegal immigrants — including dangerous criminals and terrorists — into our country," Abbott said in a statement. "For three years, the President has lied about the existence of the border crisis, deflected blame to Congress, and now contradicts himself by issuing a feckless executive order months before Election Day."
