The White House statement comes after a week of frantic negotiations in the Senate.

The White House statement comes after a week of frantic negotiations in the Senate.

President Joe Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass a bipartisan bill to address the immigration crisis at the nation’s southern border, saying he would shut down the border the day the bill became law.

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said in a statement. “It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

Biden’s Friday evening statement resembles a ramping up in rhetoric for the administration, placing the president philosophically in the camp arguing that the border may hit a point where closure is needed. The White House’s decision to have Biden weigh in also speaks to the delicate nature of the dealmaking, and the urgency facing his administration to take action on the border — particularly during an election year, when Republicans have used the issue to rally their base.

The president is also daring Republicans to reject the deal as it faces a make-or-break moment amid GOP fissures.

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3613·
    11 months ago

    According to the DHS,

    Affirmative asylum case filings with USCIS nearly quadrupled from 63,074 applications in 2021 to 238,841 in 2022, the highest number on record.

    The total number of defensive asylum applications filed with EOIR nearly tripled from 88,162 in 2021 to 253,524 in 2022, the highest on record.

    I don’t have the numbers for all of 2023 in front of me but they’re higher than the ones for 2022. (And keep in mind that not everyone crossing the border files an asylum application.)

    Hundreds of thousands more people than normal are entering across the border, and existing systems for accommodating them are overwhelmed. Maybe the best solution is not closing the border, but thinking that there is no problem is inconsistent with reality.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
      3312·
      11 months ago

      Crazy idea, but we all came to this country as immigrants, and wiped out most of the population that was already here. Seems a little ironic to me that we’re now concerned about who can and can’t live here.

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1711·
        11 months ago

        I live in New York City, where as of the beginning of December 2023,

        According to the city’s Department of Social Services, more than 157,600 asylum seekers arrived in New York City since last spring [2022] in need of shelter and more 67,000 remain in the city’s care, with hundreds more arriving every day.

        That’s about 2% of the population of the city. The ones still in shelters have more than doubled the city’s homeless population. If we stopped being concerned about these people then they would be outside without food and shelter, and it gets quite cold around here. However, being concerned about them is projected to cost the city more than ten billion dollars over the next three years, which is a lot of money even for a city this big.

        Something needs to be done at the federal level. Right now the federal government is letting a lot of people in and then doing very little to take care of them once they’re in the country, and that’s not working.

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
          253·
          11 months ago

          I agree, we should be helping people that come into this country seeking refuge from war, and shitty economic conditions in their own countries, not demonizing them.

          We aren’t doing that, we are instead using them as political pawns for browny points with each political parties respective base. Instead of seeing them as people.

        • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
          133·
          11 months ago

          so you agree this is really just a funding issue at the federal level?

          youre of course pushing your representatives to increase funding for all immigration programs, right?

          • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            712·
            11 months ago

            There are two separate questions here.

            Do I think this could be solved with (much) more funding at the federal level? Yes, that’s one way to do it, and better than letting people in without allocating such funding.

            Do I think that’s the ideal solution? No, I don’t think the USA should be letting in everyone who crosses the border, with little to no screening. There are many people who have applied through official channels and waited for many years; let them in first rather than rewarding the ones who skip the line.

            (Australia has a policy that asylum seekers who arrive without a visa will be sheltered in refugee camps until it is safe for them to leave, but they will not be allowed to move freely in the country or given any more opportunities to become permanent residents than they would have had if they applied for a visa. I think something like that may be a good idea.)

            • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
              171·
              11 months ago

              both things here are resolved with solid immigration funding.

              yep, we should be letting Everyone… at least to the door, where we can then screen them. and then take appropriate action.

              you do have a point that the immigration process is broken. that it takes a decade to get in is absolutely due to racism and conservative policies, which requires more than funding… it would take compassionate politicians.

              • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                611·
                11 months ago

                I’m an immigrant myself. I came here with a refugee visa when I was a child, and that was extremely fortunate for me - the place where I was born is now a war zone. I’m a strong supporter of allowing in the people who have applied, passed all the checks, and waited patiently. It’s a win-win situation, good for the immigrants and good for this country. I’m saying that so you can understand where I’m coming from. I’m not afraid of or hostile to immigrants, I just want the current, broken system fixed in a way that’s fair to the people who are trying to come here legally. I don’t see that happening soon.

                  • TheFonz@lemmy.world
                    1·
                    11 months ago

                    This is a stupid and unnecessary rebuttal. You may not agree but at least be somewhat charitable. They aren’t saying close the borders to everyone. The individual is just asking that the rest follow the same path he/she did. That’s all. I don’t understand this vitriol on social media.

    • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
      162·
      11 months ago

      sounds like we need to floood our immigration system with cash so we can finally help all those human beings. you want to help human beings, right?