Overview
President Biden's border policy shifted from initially reversing Trump-era restrictions to implementing highly restrictive measures as border crossings hit historic highs. The administration relied heavily on enforcement, detention, and targeted legal pathways, ultimately enforcing a near-ban on asylum claims during periods of high unauthorized crossings.
Key components of his approach included:
- Asylum Restrictions: In mid-2024, the administration issued a sweeping proclamation that temporarily suspended the right to seek asylum for migrants crossing the southern border illegally. The policy mandated that border patrol immediately turn away migrants when daily border crossings exceeded an average of 2,500 encounters per week.
- Targeted Legal Pathways: To manage surges and promote orderly migration, the administration expanded humanitarian parole programs. This included allowing up to 30,000 migrants per month from specific countries (such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) to legally fly into the US if they had established financial sponsors and utilized the CBP One App for appointments.
- Enforcement & Removals: The administration increased deportation flights, tripled interior detention, and heavily relied on rapid removal processes to deter illegal crossings.
- Reversal of Early Policies: Early in his term, Biden halted border wall construction and attempted to end the "Remain in Mexico" and Title 42 public health expulsion policies. However, these efforts faced prolonged legal battles and necessitated complex adjustments to border processing over his term.
Here’s some basic info on the Biden policy
So you can see now how it’s an outright lie to call it an open border policy