While this issue is one of the most important in the presidential campaign, which opposes him to his predecessor, Joe Biden will unveil important measures aimed at reducing the number of illegal migrants who cross the border into Mexico to enter the United States.
Joe Biden will unveil significant restrictive measures to reduce the number of illegal migrants crossing the Mexican border to enter the United States, multiple US media reported Monday, as the issue has become a central theme of the presidential campaign. The US president is expected to sign an executive order authorizing certain officials to deport migrants who cross the border illegally without first processing their asylum claims.
Immigration, a key issue in the presidential campaign
Joe Biden is expected to unveil these measures during a White House ceremony with border town mayors. They will apply to each jump in the number of migrant arrivals. Contacted by AFP, the American leader refused to confirm this information. “From day one,” the Biden administration “considered what steps could be taken,” a White House official told AFP. “There have been no final decisions on what executive actions could be taken or whether they would be taken.”
Immigration has emerged as a key issue in the campaign between Democrat Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, who is using incendiary rhetoric against migrants, accusing them in particular of “poisoning the blood of the country”. In the 12 months to October 2023, a record 2.4 million people were intercepted at the border with Mexico. In December, driven by poverty and violence in Latin America, around 10,000 people crossed the border illegally every day.
Faced with these numbers and attacks from the right on the subject, Joe Biden had already said he was considering using his regulatory powers to tackle the problem, although this drew criticism from his left. The proposed measures would be among the most restrictive ever introduced by a Democrat and would rely on the same mechanism used by the Trump administration to ban immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries. They would most likely be challenged in court.
