Biden Considers Executive Actions To Enhance Border Security

President Biden is reportedly considering a range of executive actions to enhance security at the US-Mexico border. Measures could include barring migrants from applying for asylum when crossings pass 5,000 a day, similar to a mechanism in bipartisan Senate border deal which was torpdedoed by Republicans earlier this month.

• Republicans argued, after sinking the Senate deal, that Biden has a range of executive powers which could be used to immediately close the border without the need for Congressional action - an assertion is disputed by some legal experts who cite a move by former President Donald Trump to bar entry via 212(F) which was blocked by federal courts in 2018.
• White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández said: "No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected.”
• On the potential political implications, Axios writes: “The actions under consideration will inflame Latino groups and the progressive wing of Biden's party, which has expressed alarm about some of the policy changes Biden has been mulling.”
• However, polling continues to show that blocking the bipartisan Senate border deal has failed to significantly dent voter support for the GOP on the border. It is likely the White House considers a major border policy decision crucial before Biden's State of the Union address on March 7.