President Joe Biden will temporarily shut the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers whenever illegal migrant crossings surge, the White House said Tuesday, in a dramatic bid to neutralize one of his political weak spots in the reelection battle against Donald Trump.
The 81-year-old Democrat is signing a long-awaited executive order that would ban migrants who enter illegally from getting asylum when numbers top 2,500 in a day -- and then make it easier to deport them back to Mexico.
"To Joe Biden, the safety of American families should always come first. That's why today, the president is announcing new historic executive actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Officials said the tough new curbs should take effect straightaway as the numbers of people crossing the border without proper documentation are already above the threshold. Asylum seekers would again be allowed to enter once the numbers dropped to 1,500 a day.
"We do expect that the authority would be in effect immediately," a Biden administration official told reporters.
Biden himself was due to speak at the White House at 2:00 pm (1800 GMT).
The move would be one of the toughest ever by a Democratic president and see Biden moving closer to Republican Trump's own signature border policies, amid polls showing the issue heavily dragging on Biden's reelection chances in November.
Trump's campaign earlier dismissed the expected executive order as being "for amnesty, not border security."
The statement repeated Trump's frequent claims that illegal migrants are responsible for surges in violent crime -- an allegation not supported by any major police or academic data.
Migrants entering the United States are normally allowed to claim asylum if they face harm or persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
But many spend years waiting for their claims to be processed, with critics saying that many people cross purely for economic reasons and then game the system to remain in the United States.
- 'Kids in cages' -
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that Biden was dealing with an immigration system that had been "broken for decades."
Jean-Pierre accused Republicans in Congress of "partisan politics" by failing to cooperate with Biden, and for blocking billions of dollars in funding for the border which the president tried to push through along with money for Ukraine and Israel.
Under Biden, border crossings have surged to record levels, rising to a peak of around 300,000 -- 10,000 a day -- in December.
Most are from Central America and Venezuela as they flee poverty, violence and disasters exacerbated by climate change, but growing numbers are also coming from other parts of the world to Latin America before making the treacherous trip north to the United States.
The numbers have fallen considerably in recent months, to some 179,000 in April, but polls show it is still one of Biden's biggest electoral liabilities.
Biden's executive order aims to defuse Republican attacks and to woo middle-of-the-road voters worried about the state of the border. But his plan will anger leftist Democrats and it will almost certainly be challenged in court by civil rights groups.
The White House moved to defuse criticisms that Biden is effectively copying Trump -- even using the same laws as his predecessor for his new executive order.
"All of these policies are in stark contrast to how the previous administration managed immigration," a second senior administration official told reporters.
"They demonized immigrants, instituted mass raids, separated families at the border and put kids in cages. Their policies went against our values as a nation."
Trump spent his time in office trying to build a wall on the Mexican border and has drastically ramped up his anti-immigration rhetoric as he seeks a White House comeback.
He has repeatedly spoken of migrants "poisoning the blood" of the United States and says he would enact the biggest deportation of migrants in history as soon as he takes office.
By Danny Kemp