Biden announces executive action on immigration

As the politics and legality of the Biden administration’s new executive action to ban asylum seekers who cross the US-Mexico border illegally continue to play out, migrants are battling deadly, triple-digit heat as they attempt to cross into the US near El Paso, Texas.

Emergency responders last weekend responded to multiple emergencies involving heat-related illnesses that resulted in the deaths of four migrants, according to the US Border Patrol (USBP) El Paso Sector.

Temperatures in the region last weekend were around 100 degrees each afternoon. 

USBP warned that people crossing should consider the risks involved due to extreme heat and triple-digit temperatures.  

“People need to seriously consider the severe risks of crossing in extreme heat under the treacherous conditions of the desert, including death. BP agents work tirelessly to save lives, but the safest option is not to attempt the crossing,” USBP said.

The National Weather Service (NWS) El Paso office has issued a heat advisory for the area this week as the next several days will be even hotter with temperatures expected to reach 104 degrees.

“A heat advisory has been issued for portions of El Paso, Dona Ana, and Hudspeth counties for Wednesday and Thursday. REMEMBER: Drink plenty of fluids, stay in the AC, check up on relatives/neighbors, don’t leave pets or children unattended in vehicles!!,” the NWS El Paso office said in a forecast message. They warned that “hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses to occur.”

CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward contributed to this report

Some migrants on their way to the US-Mexico border don’t seem to be too concerned with President Joe Biden’s executive action on immigration announced Tuesday.

“They (the US) have been saying the same thing for a long time, since Trump was there, they are saying that the border is going to be closed,” said one migrant CNN en Español spoke to in Tuxtla, a city located in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

One migrant said the US can make any “decision they want” but “we are going to try to reach the goal.”

“Just like when we knocked down the doors of Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Spain and so on. This is never going to end. This is a process of many years,” he said.

Another migrant expressed concern about the actions of the US and said that after crossing the Darien Gap and several countries, it would be “hard” to have the final border they need to cross shut down.

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone because there are many, many things that one went through along the way to get to here,” he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson takes a question from a reporter during a weekly news conference on Capitol Hill on June 4, in Washington, DC. 

Republicans came out swinging against President Joe Biden’s newest executive action on the border, despite the fact that it plans to impose stricter measures on immigration.

Some criticized Biden about not implementing the executive actions sooner, while others said the executive action does not go far enough, touting the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.

“It’s window dressing,” said Speaker Mike Johnson in a news conference Tuesday. “And we don’t know what’s in this. The devil will definitely be in the details here.”

A joint statement from Republican leadership – signed by Reps. Tom Emmer, Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise, and Elise Stefanik – stated, “Over a year ago, House Republicans passed the Secure the Border Act, which would actually fix the problem, but Joe Biden and Senate Democrats continue to drag their feet on taking meaningful action, sacrificing the safety and security of our communities.”

While House Democrats did vote against a border bill sponsored by Republicans last year, Senate Republicans doomed multiple border-related bills negotiated with Democrats, showing that in an election year, neither party wants to give the other a win on immigration.

Rep. Richard Hudson, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, called Biden’s executive action “too little, too late.”

“After 64 open border executive actions, zero House Democratic votes for the Secure the Border Act, and two million illegal crossings per year - Joe Biden has finally woken up to the fact he has a political problem at the border,” Hudson said in a release Tuesday.

A statement from the American Action Network, a conservative advocacy group, criticized Biden on revoking the signature Trump-era immigration policy.

“If the President was serious about stopping the crisis at the southern border, why isn’t he reinstating Remain in Mexico?” said AAN communications director Courtney Parella.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin speaks alongside fellow lawmakers and immigration advocates during a press conference on protecting long-term undocumented residents, outside of the US Capitol on May 8, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said he is “disappointed” that the Biden executive action doesn’t include a path to legalization but also noted that President Biden had no other choice but to offer an executive action after GOP rejected bipartisan border bills earlier this year.

In March, Durbin and a group of fellow Senate Democrats sent a letter to Biden outlining recommendations for executive actions to streamline immigration relief for the undocumented population and DACA holders in the United States.

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee bashed the new executive action that President Joe Biden unveiled on Tuesday that would allow the administration to ban asylum seekers who cross the border illegally.

Former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Miller made several baseless and inflammatory claims on the call with reporters, including that the new expected action from Biden is “pro-child slavery, pro-child trafficking, pro-child sexual servitude.” He described Biden’s actions as “evil” and “radical,” and called the president a “criminal” and a “monster.” 

Miller, a longtime Trump adviser, was the architect behind some of the Trump administration’s most controversial immigration policies.

Former Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan, who oversaw Trump’s controversial “zero tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings that led to children being separated from their parents, was also on the call, in addition to Trump campaign spokesperson Jason Miller. 

“This president has done nothing to honestly do his job and secure the border and the actions they’re taking today doesn’t secure the border, it doesn’t fix anything,” Homan said.

President Joe Biden speaks about an executive order in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden frequently mentioned his predecessor as he announced new immigration executive actions that would allow the administration to ban asylum seekers who cross the border illegally.

Immigration and the US-Mexico border have become hot-button issues in the 2024 presidential race. Former President Donald Trump has made hardline immigration policies a cornerstone of his campaign and regularly stokes fears about migrants entering the US.

Tuesday’s executive order marks an attempt by Biden to address head-on one of his biggest political vulnerabilities, just weeks before the first presidential debate with Trump. 

Biden came out of the gate attacking Republicans, saying he would rather solve the issue at the border through bipartisan measures — but blamed Trump and GOP lawmakers for blocking a bipartisan deal twice this year.

Later, Biden went after specific Trump-era policies like separating children from their families at the border or banning people based on their religion.

“I will not use the US military to go into neighborhoods all across the country to pull millions of people out of their homes and away from their families to put (in) detention camps while awaiting deportation, as my predecessor says he will do if he occupies his office again,” Biden said.

What Trump has said: The anti-immigrant rhetoric that defined Trump’s successful 2016 campaign has darkened and grown even more inflammatory as he seeks a return to the White House. He has framed the current migrant crisis as an “invasion” by dangerous criminals, who in some cases “are not people.”

Some of his policy proposals include mass arrests, detention and deportation. Federal law enforcement would be restructured to direct “massive portions” of agency personnel toward immigration enforcement. The National Guard would be deployed and, if necessary, US troops as well.

CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Andrew Seger contributed reporting to this post.

The American Civil Liberties Union will sue the Biden administration over its new executive action that would shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum-seekers crossing illegally, an official from the legal advocacy group told CNN, likening the action to ones taken during the Trump administration.

The executive order uses an authority known as “212(f)” – a regulation used under the Trump administration and widely denounced at the time by Democrats. CNN previously reported that some Justice officials expressed doubts that proposed changes, aimed at trying to address previous court rulings against the Trump-era order, could survive litigation with the action set to go into effect at midnight.

“We’re not saying that everyone is entitled to asylum, but we made a solemn promise after World War II, we would never send people back without at least screening them. This policy will mean not even a screen to see if people are in grave danger” because of religious or political views, Gelernt added.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, MJ Lee and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.

During President Joe Biden’s remarks on an executive action restricting immigration, he addressed critics who have called the action too harsh.

“Doing nothing is not an option. We have to act,” Biden added.

Polling has shown that immigration is a key issue in the election and a weakness for Biden, with many voters and politicians blaming him on the record-high levels of immigration at the border. However, the executive action has also faced criticism from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, who argued that Biden should also expand legal pathways to citizenship. Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California, who hails from a state that depends heavily on immigrant labor, also criticized the executive action.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans have blasted Biden on not acting sooner to address the migrant crisis. However, many Senate Republicans also voted against measures that would put border restrictions into law, refusing to give Biden a legislative win during an election year.

In an attempt to appease his critics, Biden also added, in “the weeks ahead, I’ll speak to how we can make our immigration system more fair and more just.”

President Joe Biden discussed the importance of immigration in the United States, pointing to the country’s roots and attacking his predecessor.

The president announced new executive action would bar migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met. It’s a departure from decades-long protocol.

While taking those actions, he tried to draw a strict contrast with his opponent in November.

“I will never demonize immigrants. I’ll never refer to immigrants as poisoning the blood of a country. Further, I’ve never separated children from their families at the border,” Biden said, pointing to specific points that Donald Trump has said he would bring back or carry out if he is elected in November.

Biden emphasized the importance of providing people with a pathway to citizenship but said in order to “protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, you must first secure the border and secure it now.”

A migrant seeking asylum carries a backpack with a tag as he looks for transportation options after being processed and released, Tuesday, June 4, in San Diego.

New executive actions to shut off access to asylum for migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally will come into effect at midnight, a presidential proclamation announced Tuesday.

In the proclamation, the president also outlined his administration’s justification for the significant move.

The president officially announced the moves Tuesday afternoon.

President Joe Biden officially announced new executive actions on immigration at the White House on Tuesday, saying Republicans “left me no choice.”

He criticized lawmakers for failing to advance a bipartisan border deal, saying he would rather address the issue in a bipartisan manner.

“I’ve come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refused to do,” Biden said.

A bipartisan proposal failed in the Senate for the second time at the end of last month. Republicans have largely dismissed the vote as a political move for vulnerable Democrats to seek political cover over a major issue in the run-up to the November elections.

This post has been updated with additional information.

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 4, to announce he will temporarily shut the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers whenever illegal migrant crossings surge.

President Joe Biden is delivering remarks from the White House.

He’s expected to address executive action from his administration that will restrict levels of immigration, a key issue that has reemerged this campaign cycle.

The new executive action would bar migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum — a departure from decades-long protocol — once a daily threshold is met.

Unless they meet certain exemptions, they will be turned away to Mexico or returned to their origin country. Senior administration officials told reporters Tuesday it would be lifted when there’s a daily average of less than 1,500 encounters in between ports of entry.

The expected announcement has been met with both praise and protest by Democratic lawmakers.

President Joe Biden, center, speaks about an executive order in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, June 4.

During President Joe Biden’s remarks on Tuesday regarding his executive action restricting immigration, there was no audience, showing the scaled back nature of the announcement as Democrats demonstrate mixed reactions to the policy.

The announcement took place in the East Room where White House events are typically held with more of the president’s supporters in attendance.

The issue is a key weakness of Biden’s during this election cycle, and Biden is desperate to rewrite the blame his administration faces on record-high immigration levels. However, the executive action has faced criticism from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, who argued that Biden should also expand legal pathways to citizenship.

Sen. Mark Kelly speaks about the southern border outside the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday in Washington, DC.

Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat who represents the border state of Arizona, blamed Republicans and former President Donald Trump over Congress’ inability to pass border reform and praised President Joe Biden’s executive actions set to be announced this afternoon.

He also said: “For three years, the president has been calling on Congress to take action on this issue. And we spent months negotiating what was strong bipartisan legislation, it was going to have funding for more Border Patrol agents. We were going to have more fentanyl detection machines at our ports of entry.”

“There was a change in policy and asylum policy, building of facilities to hold migrants as you adjudicate asylum claims, judges and officials that can adjudicate these claims. That was all part of this legislation. Unfortunately, our Republican colleagues ran away from it,” he continued.

A group of Nikki Haley supporters welcomed President Biden’s expected announcement of executive action on immigration, calling it a “clear step in the right direction.”

Last month, a Biden campaign official met with the group for a Zoom call where many members expressed their pressing policy concerns, chief among them, the US-Mexico border.

Amanda Stewart Sprowls, a Haley supporter from Arizona, expressed a desire for an executive order or some type of strong action from Biden on the issue during the call.

“In certain ways, it acknowledges that Biden and his team are now understanding that this is what the majority of Americans want,” she said, adding, that five months remain until the election in November, so it doesn’t necessarily seal the deal on a vote for Biden.

Another Haley voter, Tom Evslin, who is from Vermont, was dismayed that congressional action was not taken on the border but supports Biden’s expected actions today and said the president deserves “respect for listening to voters in the political middle.”

President Joe Biden’s aggressive move that is expected to bar illegal border crossers from seeking asylum has no chance of finally solving the crushing problem of an overburdened system that badly needs reform.

But the White House hopes it alleviates the immediate crisis at the US-Mexico border where arrivals are currently at an elevated level that will immediately trigger the new executive actions. Biden’s move is also sharply political — because everything about immigration is hopelessly politicized in a way that has thwarted every effort to fix immigration laws for decades.

It’s no coincidence that the president will act on Tuesday just three weeks before he’s due to stand opposite Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump at a CNN debate. He badly needed political insulation on immigration, which the ex-president is using as a platform for his campaign again after riding the issue to victory in 2016. 

People familiar with Biden’s strategy point out the contrast between the president taking action and the Republicans doing nothing on immigration after the GOP twice blocked the most conservative immigration bill in decades in Congress to keep the issue alive for Trump.

The danger is that Biden simply draws attention to his own failure to far to fix a crisis on which Trump is more trusted by voters despite his dehumanizing and often racist rhetoric. The president is also again infuriating progressive voters from whom he’s already estranged over Israel policy. 

The logic behind imposing harsh immigration measures is that they deter people from coming to the border. But the conditions that people from Central and South America are fleeing – economic blight, gang warfare and the effects of climate change – are so dire that the deterrence factor is often ineffective. And until a fractured Congress finally resolves to act instead of using immigration as a political tool, an asylum system designed for a long-ago era will continue to fail.

That is unlikely to change no matter how many people Trump vows to deport if he wins in November.

Rep. Bennie Thompson speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill on January 30 in Washington, DC.

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee slammed President Joe Biden’s proposed executive action due to concern over the impact it would have on “vulnerable people coming to the United States for safety and protection.”

“I am concerned about the impact of the Executive Order on vulnerable people coming to the United States for safety and protection. We must ensure continued access to asylum under U.S. law,” Rep. Bennie Thompson said in a statement.

Remember: The new executive action is expected to bar migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum once a daily threshold is met. It’s a departure from decades-long protocol.

Unaccompanied children, victims of a severe form of trafficking, and those who present an acute medical emergency or an imminent and extreme threat to life and safety are among the exemptions.

Asylum seekers walk for their asylum interview appointment with US authorities at the El Chaparral crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on May 18.

The executive action that would bar migrants from seeking asylum if they cross the border illegally has been in the works for months.

The action would mark a significant policy shift for the Biden administration, which has taken a more aggressive approach to border security after years of grappling with border crises fueled by record migration as it has attempted to blunt Republican attacks during a heated election year.

President Joe Biden had previously said that he had done all he could on the border through executive action and called on Congress to pass new laws to address the situation. But after a bipartisan border deal fell apart earlier this year, the White House explored additional actions that it could take through existing authorities.

Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Chuck Schumer enter the House chamber on March 7 in Washington, DC.

As President Joe Biden is set to unveil later Tuesday an executive action to try to address problems at the southern border, the top Democrat and Republican in the Senate traded blame on who was responsible for the crisis.

Schumer said it was a “disgrace” the Republicans buckled to pressure from Donald Trump to kill that bipartisan compromise so that Trump could maintain a key reelection issue. He said that while the executive order is not the preferred method to deal with the border, “it’s better than doing nothing.”

When he rose to speak, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t address the stifled legislative effort from earlier this year but blamed Biden for taking 1,231 days into his presidency “to do something, anything about the humanitarian and security crisis that has consumed” the border.  He noted that the president’s action comes just 154 days before the election. 

Sen. Alex Padilla speaks at a press conference on protecting long-term undocumented residents outside of the US Capitol on May 8 in Washington, DC.

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California criticized President Joe Biden’s executive action on the border, telling CNN’s Manu Raju, “It’s disappointing to see an attempt to return to the same policies that were proven to fail in the Trump administration.” 

Asked if this will hurt Biden with Hispanic and progressive voters, Padilla replied, “I guess there’s still time for him to do what’s right.”