by Nolan Rappaport, opinion contributor – 08/06/24 11:00 AM ET
President Biden claims that the Senate Border Act of 2024 was “the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country.”
Republicans claim that the Border Act would make the border crisis worse by encouraging even more migrants to make illegal border crossings. Trump says that “only a fool, or a radical left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous legislation.”
Biden’s response is that the “Republicans have to decide. Do they want to solve the problem? Or do they want to keep playing politics with the border?”
The Border Act was part of a $118 billion national security supplemental package. A motion to proceed with the Border Act in the package failed by a vote of 49-50. The package went forward without it.
The Border Act isn’t all dead. Vice President Kamala Harris will certainly bring it back if she prevails in the upcoming election and is our next president. She says it is “the most significant border bill in decades.” She claims that the Border Act “was all set to pass, but at the last minute, Trump directed his allies in the Senate to vote it down.”
But the conservatives are right about this bill. The Border Act would not stop the administration from continuing to create questionable parole programs to admit migrants who don’t have visas or other valid entry documents. It would not end catch and release. It would not stop migrants from using meritless asylum claims to enter and remain in the United States indefinitely.
As U.S. District Court Judge T. Kent Wetherell said in a 2023 immigration case, the Biden-Harris administration’s actions have been “akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border.”
The Border Act does provide the president with authority to close the border down when illegal crossings between ports of entry reach an average of 4,000 per day for more than seven days. This is not mandatory, however, unless the average rises above 5,000 per day for more than seven days, which would be more than 1.8 million per year. And even that provision would sunset in three years. That is not a resolution of the issue.
Moreover, while an order to shut the border down is in effect, Customs and Border Patrol would be required to interview a minimum of 1,400 inadmissible migrants per day at ports of entry along the Southwest border. These interviews have resulted in releasing migrants without visas or other valid entry documents into the country 95.8 percent of the time.
The Border Act also would authorize asylum officers to adjudicate asylum applications at the border in non-custodial, non-adversarial, proceedings. Migrants who receive a positive decision in the initial screening process would be eligible for work authorizations and be referred to a protection merits interview for a decision on their applications. However, if they establish eligibility by clear and convincing evidence, the asylum officer could grant their asylum applications right there during the screening interview.
Denials, on the other hand could be appealed to a Protection Appellate Board.
https://thehill.com/opinion/4812643-border-act-2024-reforms-biden
