Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), the nation’s largest community of attorneys committed to human rights and equal justice for all and operator of Project Corazon, a legal clinic for asylum seekers in the Rio Grande Valley, denounces the executive order from the Biden administration that aims to effectively shut down the U.S. border to asylum seekers. This measure, which was just announced today on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, draws from the same legal framework as Trump’s notorious Muslim Ban and poses a severe threat to the rights and safety of countless vulnerable individuals.

The proposed order will give CBP unilateral power over the next 14 days to temporarily suspend entry to people seeking asylum across the southern border and deport those who enter the U.S. outside of border checkpoints without processing their asylum claims. There will be very few humanitarian exceptions to this rule, as credible fear screenings would be limited to extremely specific cases. The border closure will then be triggered every time CBP encounters an average of 2,500 people per day – a completely arbitrary number – between ports of entry. With average daily encounters around 6,000, this executive order will abruptly halt the asylum process for nearly all individuals seeking protection.

“These changes are not just policy shifts; they are life-threatening alterations to a system meant to offer refuge to individuals at their most desperate moments,” said Priscilla Orta, Director of Project Corazon at Lawyers for Good Government. “The Biden administration is repeating the same inhumane tactics that defined the Trump administration’s assault on human rights. Closing the border based on arbitrary numbers, without any individualized review, is an unjust betrayal of the promises made by President Biden to uphold human dignity and the right to asylum.”

Legal Basis and Humanitarian Consequences:

The authority for this proposed policy is based on INA 212(f) (8 USC § 1182(f)), which allows the President to suspend the entry of noncitizens deemed detrimental to the United States. Historically, this authority has been used to target specific threats, but President Trump expanded its use with broad restrictions like the Muslim Ban. Courts have ruled that such uses must not conflict with established asylum laws.

The new measure is expected to create a humanitarian crisis at the border, forcing individuals and families into perilous conditions in camps on the Mexican side of the border. By denying people with legitimate asylum claims the ability to seek safety, the policy will likely result in numerous human rights violations and breaches of international law, including the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning individuals to places where their lives or freedom are threatened.

Political Context and Recent Measures:

This anticipated executive order is part of a series of recent harmful measures by the Biden administration:

• May 31, 2024: The Department of Justice (DOJ) directed an increase in federal prosecutions for unauthorized border crossings, reviving elements of Trump’s family separation policy. This relies on a federal law that the DOJ has admitted was rooted in white supremacy when Congress enacted it in 1929.

• May 13, 2024: The Department of Homeland Security issued a proposed rule that imposes convoluted evidentiary requirements early in the asylum process. This makes it significantly more difficult for families and individuals to defend their claims and increases the likelihood of erroneous denials and unjust deportations.

Lawyers for Good Government calls on the Biden administration to immediately halt this executive order and reverse these draconian measures. The U.S. must uphold its legal and moral obligations to provide protection to those fleeing persecution.