Biden Blinks: Makes Massive Reversal In Border Policy, Mimics Trump-Era Rule

In a stunning reversal of his rabidly anti-Trump policies, President Joe Biden has effectively restored a Trump-Era immigration rule, albeit under a new name just one day prior to Title 42's expiration. Though with over 11,000 illegal immigrants reportedly captured attempting to cross the border Tuesday, and as many as 700,000 following as previously reported by the DC Enquirer, it may be too little, too late.

As of Wednesday, the 'new' rule on “Circumvention of Legal Pathways,” requires that illegal immigrants be disqualified from asylum if they fail to first apply for asylum in a 'safe third nation' they've traveled through, typically Mexico, according to The Daily Wire. As reported by CBS News, hundreds of asylum officers were rapidly trained in the enforcement of the rule Tuesday ahead of Title 42's sunset.

As noted by The Boston Globe in a full-throated editorial criticizing the policy known as the Asylum Transit Ban, the policy "seeks to stem the flow of asylum seekers by barring those who arrive at the southern border unless they have first sought and been denied asylum in at least one country that they traveled through."

However, the Globe points out the new rule's glaring loophole: "The only exceptions are Mexican nationals who do not pass through additional countries and those who enter through the faulty CBP One app."

Biden's apparent concession to the reality of the nightmare brewing at the border is a particularly embarrassing one, as Daily Wire reported, the eighty-year-old Democrat campaigned against the policy explicitly during the 2020 presidential campaign. And could prove startlingly ineffective as it only explicitly bars illegal immigrants who are not Mexican nationals.

During the final debate against 45th President Donald J. Trump, he said "This is the first president in the history of the United States of America that anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country. That’s never happened before in America."

The fallout has already begun for Biden among his radical-leftist base with Anna Núñez of the Southern Poverty Law Center tweeting, "Painfully ironic to see Biden admin employ Trump-style tactics & use of punitive, deterrence-based policies. Biden “distorted” meaning of “safe third country” to broadly bar #asylum eligibility, reviving Trump’s most harmful & illegal policies."

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) both voiced their opposition to Biden on this policy indicating an erosion of support from the radical-left wing of the Democratic Party.

AOC wrote, "This transit ban would effectively bar most refugees from Central and South America from successfully seeking asylum in the United States. We urge the Biden administration to reverse this decision and work towards upholding the right to asylum."

 

This transit ban would effectively bar most refugees from Central and South America from successfully seeking asylum in the United States. We urge the Biden administration to reverse this decision and work towards upholding the right to asylum. https://t.co/fmYm3w7YvF

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) February 23, 2023

She quoted Menendez who said in part, "We are deeply disappointed that the Biden Admin has chosen to move forward w/ publishing this proposed rule, which only perpetuates the harmful myth that asylum seekers are a threat to this nation. When in reality, they are pursuing a legal pathway in the U.S."

The move is on-brand for Biden's presidency as it is the worst of both worlds for him. The policy change will be insufficient to actually stop the erosion of our Southern border and it is already hurting him politically with his own base.

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