Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to cross between lawful ports of entry, when a daily threshold of crossings has been exceeded.
The order will take effect immediately, senior administration officials said on a press call. Those seeking asylum will be held to a much more rigorous standard for establishing credible fear of returning to their home country, although certain groups – including human trafficking victims and unaccompanied children – would be excluded from the ban.
Delivering remarks at the White House alongside mayors of border towns, Biden said congressional Republicans had left him with “no choice” but to take unilateral action after they blocked a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been charged after being accused of ordering women to...
