US President Joe Biden unveiled plans to impose immediate and significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the border between the United States and Mexico, reported the Associated Press, quoted by dariknews.bg.
The agency noted that this happened at a time when the White House is trying to neutralize the negative political influence of immigration before the presidential election in the United States in November.
The White House detailed the long-awaited presidential order signed by Biden that would bar migrants from being granted asylum when US officials deem the southern border to be overcrowded. The Democratic president has been mulling unilateral action for months, especially after the failure of a bipartisan border security deal in Congress that most Republican lawmakers rejected at the behest of Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
The order will take effect when the number of reported cases at the country's entry points reaches 2,500 per day, according to senior administration officials. That means Biden's order should take effect immediately, as that figure is higher than daily averages right now, the AP said.
Restrictions will be in place until the number of cases at entry points reaches or falls below 1,500 on average per day over a seven-day period.
Once the order takes effect, migrants who arrive at the border but express no fear of being returned to their home countries will be immediately removed from the US within days or even hours. They will face penalties that could include a five-year ban from re-entering the US, as well as potential criminal prosecution.