Biden to ‘shut down’ border if Senate deal passes

President Joe Biden said Friday that he would use new emergency authorities to “shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes a bipartisan immigration plan that the Senate has been negotiating.

The comments signified a remarkable shift in tone for a Democratic president and underscored the urgency of the issue for his reelection campaign as immigration remains one of his most vexing political and policy challenges.

In a lengthy statement Friday, Biden praised the bipartisan border deal senators have been negotiating, calling it “the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country.”

“It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed,” he said. “And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

Biden is referencing a new expulsion authority senators have negotiated that would kick in on days unauthorized border crossings reach 5,000 over a five-day average, according to two people familiar with the outlines of the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

That authority would shut down most asylum screenings for migrants crossing illegally.

Migrants could still apply at ports of entry, where a set number of asylum claims would need to be granted, they said. Migrants would be expelled indefinitely until crossings dipped below 3,750 per day, which would end the expulsion authority period.

The deal also changes the U.S. asylum process with the goal of reducing the average time for an asylum claim to be resolved from several years to 6 months, the people said. It also raises the standard for migrants to be able to make an asylum claim in the first place.

Some Republicans’ goal to dramatically curtail Biden’s use of his humanitarian parole powers for certain categories of migrants is not in the final deal, they said.

Senators said they hope to release the legislative text of the deal next week.

With crossings passing 10,000 per day during much of last month, both Democrats and Republicans have described that level of migration as unsustainable.

Crossings have declined so far in January as Mexico has stepped up its enforcement, but Biden’s pledge to invoke a new “shut down” authority immediately upon signing a bill suggested that the border remained “overwhelmed.”

“For too long, we all know the border’s been broken,” Biden said in his statement. “It’s long past time to fix it.”