President Joe Biden is proving once again that he’s not at all serious about securing America’s borders against illegal entry and rampant drug smuggling, a report noted on Monday.
Biden has signed an executive order as a means of circumventing congressional inaction. The order is expected to provide a pathway for hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the country by the end of the year, The New York Times reports.
According to the report, the executive order expands upon an existing policy that provided temporary protected status to refugees fleeing Ukraine, Haiti, and certain parts of Latin America. The policy, which was previously targeted for elimination by former President Donald Trump, will now allow the White House to extend this protection to individuals from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti.
The goal is to facilitate the entry of approximately 360,000 individuals by the end of 2023, all under the banner of addressing illegal immigration at the southern border.
According to the Pew Research Center, the policy could lead to the largest expansion of legal immigration in decades.
As Biden prepares to launch his reelection campaign this week, Republicans are expected to criticize the executive order as an overreach that undermines Congress’ authority to legislate immigration.
Opponents of the measure are likely to challenge it in court, hoping to persuade judges that President Biden’s action is either unlawful or an abuse of his discretion. Already, 20 states led by Republicans have filed lawsuits in federal court seeking to halt the program.
“This constitutes yet another episode in which the administration has abused its executive authority in furtherance of its apparent objective for immigration policy: open borders and amnesty for all,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Under the new work requirements, migrants who enter the United States on a humanitarian basis would need to secure sponsorship from an employer and obtain a work permit. This is a departure from the previous policy, under which new arrivals were not permitted to work for at least six months while their cases were being reviewed.
Critics on the left have criticized Biden’s recent immigration policies, arguing that limiting the focus to just four countries is insufficient, given that there are other countries where people are also in desperate need of assistance.