Biden Administration Further Toughens Asylum Restriction at the Southern Border as Elections Near

The Biden administration announced on Monday it is further toughening asylum-seeking at the southern border as it continues to crack down on unlawful immigration ahead of the presidential elections.

The new rules increase the requisites needed to lift severe restrictions initially imposed in June. The previous ones determined that the U.S. could restrict asylum petitions when the amount of migrants arriving at the border between ports of entry reached 2,500 per day. They could then be lifted when the average dropped to 1,500 per day for a week.

Now, however, the average will have to extend for almost a month before restrictions can be lifted. Moreover, the administration is also including children in the count, when before it only counted children from Mexico. The measure will go into effect on Tuesday.

The decision comes as immigration continues to play a key role in the presidential campaign. Democrats have been toughening their stance on the issue, which became an electoral liability with voters largely favoring stricter rules.

Border crossings had been dropping throughout the year after seeing a record 200,000 illegal crossings in December of last year, but began to really plummet when the executive action took place on June 5. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials recorded some of the lowest figures throughout the entire Biden administration in August, with about 58,000 encounters. Overall, 2024 is on pace to end with the lowest amount of encounters of Biden's tenure.

Kamala Harris went to Arizona on Friday to underscore her plans, outlining sweeping restrictions she plans to enact if she wins her bid to the White House, which included bringing back the bipartisan border bill that was killed by Senate Republicans earlier this year.

The visit to Douglas, Arizona marked the first time the Vice President visited the southern border since she took the helm of the Democratic party.

In her remarks, Harris called for more resources for the Border Patrol, arguing that decreasing the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. will be a "top priority" if she's elected in November. She also vowed to keep in place Biden's executive order and "keep the border closed."

"They have a tough job. They need, righty, support to do their job. They work long hours, they're very dedicated. And so, I'm here to talk with them about what we can continue to do to support them and to also thank them for the hard work they do," Harris said as she arrived at the Raul H. Castro Port of Entry.

The remarks were among her toughest on immigration and border policy given by a major Democratic figure, The New York Times suggested. But she still took time to slam her opponent, former President Donald Trump for having "inhumane" policies while also lacking an overall plan for solving issues.

Republicans, in turn, have heavily criticized Democrats over the Biden administration's record on the issue and fault Harris for spending little time visiting the border during her time in the White House.

In fact, on Friday, the GOP candidate didn't wait for Harris to touch down on Arizona before he started pushing back on her immigration message. During a rally in Michigan, another battleground state, Trump said "blood is on [Harris'] hands," alluding to common rhetoric he uses that claims migrants are committing crimes at disproportionate rates.