President Joe Biden signed an executive order this week that would limit the number of asylum seekers able to enter the United States at the southern border. It’s arguably the most restrictive border policy he’s adopted as president — putting him more in line with former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies — and would reshape America’s asylum system if allowed to take effect.
The change comes after Republicans under pressure from former President Donald Trump to kill a bipartisan immigration bill they once supported in February. The bill, backed by Biden and Democrats, would make it easier to deport migrants at busy southern border crossings, a move that has already moved away from the immigrant-rights approach that has defined policy efforts from the left in recent years.
“While congressional Republicans have chosen to stand in the way of additional border enforcement, President Biden will not stop fighting to provide border and immigration officials with the resources they need to secure our borders,” a White House spokesman said. said in a statement on Monday.
But this political move—though it persists Perhaps a court challenge — America’s interlocking immigration crisis is short on solutions, and symptomatic of the country’s inability to craft a coherent federal solution to the crisis.
How immigration divides — and unites — America
One at the border crossing All time high. Borderless cities are finding themselves Unable to provide services for immigrants. And there is one Record year-long backlog In the case of people seeking asylum. As Vox’s Nicole Naria explains, the crisis isn’t really the number of people who aren’t coming; The pattern of immigrants has shifted—from single male economic migrants to families (many of whom are seeking asylum)—and America’s immigration system was not designed with that in mind.
All of which contribute to today’s immigration debate More polarization than any other problem in the United States in about 25 years.
That’s according to Gallup, which surveys Americans every month on what they think are the most important issues facing the nation. For three months in a row now, immigration has topped that list, beating the government (overall), the economy and inflation.
That masks a huge partisan divide: While 48 percent of Republicans said it was the most important issue in a recent Gallup poll, only 8 percent of Democrats did.
At the same time, Gallup finds support for immigration that exists is often rooted in idealism. “They welcome immigration in concept,” Lydia SaadA research director at Gallup, Sean Rameswaram said in a recent episode Today, explained“But they are concerned about illegal immigration.”
“The thing about immigration is that at some level, it’s always a conversation about what we want America to be,” Dara LindA senior fellow at the American Immigration Council (and a former Vox immigration reporter), said Today, explained.
That polarization is creating a self-perpetuating cycle
A big reason complicating our national immigration debate is that for all the talk on the issue, the country has done little to legislate on it. Of course, presidents are responsible for executive action and States are increasingly trying to get into the game.
But the last major federal immigration law was passed in 1996, under President Bill Clinton. The law increased enforcement while reducing the number of legal avenues to enter the country, which ultimately, Lind argues, led to much of the chaos we see today. Presidents since Clinton have picked up the needle on immigration, but none have signed even remotely comprehensive legislation.
One of the closest pieces of immigration policy came to becoming law was the 2013 “Gang of 8” bill in the Senate, which included provisions to increase border enforcement in exchange for a path to citizenship for some immigrants already in the country. It didn’t sustain the increased partisanship that emerged during the Obama years: “There were polls at the time that showed Republicans supported the bill — until you told them Obama supported it,” Lind says. “Immigration is an issue that resisted polarization for a long time, and then it stopped.”
Riding on that message of brokenness, naturally, is former (and he hopes future) President Donald Trump. He is approaching 2024 An even harder approach He wants to immigrate beyond 2016 or 2020 – a plan that includes “Close the border” and Mass deportation.
“So Americans have hit this point where, you know, they don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of a policy issue,” Lind said. “They absorb the message that it’s broken.”
While the current federal immigration situation is stuck somewhere between stagnant and dystopian, state and local governments are trying to find solutions.
“I think it’s important for local governments and cities to prove that these problems can be solved so that people don’t lose all faith that government can figure something out.” Denver Mayor Mike JohnstonA Democrat elected in 2023, says Today, explained. “Because we actually can.”
Denver recently welcomed about 40,000 immigrants, especially since Texas and some other southern states began. Migrants live in blue cities. And when it created problems, Especially around housing, camping and city costsJohnston is confident the city has found a way to work around the current broken immigration system.
The focus of Johnston’s enthusiasm is the city’s new Denver Asylum Seeker Program, which provides housing, food assistance and job training to asylum seekers. “What we did was create an infrastructure,” Johnston said, adding that it combined a federal six-month waiting period for asylum-seekers to get work authorization with a city-run job-training program. The city says the program sets up financial security for immigrants and eventually Housing costs less than relying on shelter. “So instead of looking at it as a risk,” Johnston says, “we look at it as an opportunity.”
Other blue cities — including some “sanctuary cities” — have struggled more to accommodate recent immigrants Absent congressional action, many are actively working on ideas that include Work Visa for Immigrants (Canada has already done something, and states like Indiana and Utah have lobbied the federal government in the past.) Improved coordination around migrant arrivals (A favorite cause of big-city mayors like Johnston and Eric Adams of New York), and better sharing of best practices.
Ultimately, experts say, federal action is needed.
But “we’re not going to wait for someone else to save us,” Johnston said. “Now we have to figure it out ourselves.”
Additional reporting by Hadi Mawazdeh and Sean Rameswaram. You can listen to the whole thing Today, explained A two-part series of podcasts on immigration here.
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