January 27, 2024 – 11:41 pm
US President Joe Biden announced that he agreed with the Senate that the border with Mexico could be closed if too many migrants wanted to cross. According to Biden, this border agreement will be the “hardest and fairest” reform in border protection. He writes Reuters.
One of the decisive points in the negotiations between the two parties was that Republicans linked support for aid sent to Ukraine to the agreement on border security. During Biden's presidency, a record number of illegal immigrants arrived in the United States. Republicans accused Biden of saying it was Democrats' fault in repealing restrictive border regulations imposed by former President Donald Trump.
Biden talked about how the package of legislation under discussion would give the president emergency authority to close the border if it becomes overcrowded. “If I get power, I will close the border on the day the bill is signed,” Biden said. The White House also approved a new restriction on the right to asylum: Accordingly, if the number of illegal border crossers exceeds 4,000 people per day, those who illegally cross the border between the United States and Mexico will be quickly deported to Mexico.
Although Biden previously promised that his government would not build a fence, the president agreed to build a 32-kilometre-long section of the fence on the Mexican border last October. The Biden government is under increasing pressure over immigration, and this could also affect the presidential election this year. By October 2023, more than 245,000 people had entered the United States in the Rio Grande Valley alone. The leadership of many major American cities said that they are extremely burdened with caring for and receiving immigrants who constantly arrive.
