Los Angeles advocates say Biden’s border policy will harm migrants

After President Biden signed an executive order to tighten entries into the U.S. border, Los Angeles immigrant advocacy groups caution the new policy would harm migrants without effectively reducing the number of people crossing into the country.

SHortly after Biden made the announcement Tuesday morning, the AMerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it planned to sue the Biden administration, saying the new executive order will “severely restrict people’s legal right to seek asylum” and put “tens of thousands of lives at risk.”

It was illegal when Trump did it, and it is no less illegal now,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “We intend to challenge this in court.”

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) also echoed the same concern, expressing concerns for those who will be stopped at the border.

“We may see a lot of folks come to the border and be forced to wait in tough conditions,” Carl Berquist with CHIRLA said. “We may also see them not come to the border and wait elsewhere in even greater danger.” 

Another concern is that with the closed border, there will be an increase in the number of people crossing the border illegally.

“It’s not going to change the fact that [migrants] are going to be there waiting and trying to get an appointment under the CBP One act – or by simply crossing without permission,” said Gustavo Mora, an immigration attorney.

President Biden’s new measure takes effect immediately because the new policy is triggered when arrests for illegal entry reach 2,500. About 4,000 people already are entering the U.S. each day. It was a major policy shift on a critical election-year issue that’s exposed Biden to Republican criticism over an unprecedented surge in new arrivals in an election year.