'Border Surge' Is a Feature, Not a Bug, of Biden's Asylum Policies

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Real Clear Policy

On May 26, the Wall Street Journal editorial board questioned why the Biden administration would repeal expulsion orders for illegal migrants at the Southwest border, issued under Title 42 of the U.S. Code in response to the Covid-19 pandemic knowing that repeal would “lead to a border surge.” The answer is that deterring illegal entry — the policy of every prior administration — isn’t policy under the current one, which is instead focused on ensuring that every foreign national who makes it here can apply for asylum in the United States.

The administration has been clear about this. On May 1, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” where anchor Bret Baier asked the secretary whether it is “the objective of the Biden administration to . . . sharply reduce the total number of illegal immigrants coming across the southern border?” 

Mayorkas responded: “It is the objective of the Biden administration to make sure that we have safe, orderly, and legal pathways for individuals to be able to access our legal system.” That wasn’t a non sequitur, but rather a clear expression of the administration’s policy: Reducing illegal migration is not the administration’s goal; providing “access to our legal system” for illegal immigrants is. That requires some explanation. 

The editorial board noted that one of Mayorkas’ “replacement policies for Title 42” is “expedited removal.” Expedited removal sounds like a way to rapidly expel illegal entrants, and that was what Congress intended it to be when it created the process in 1996, but over the past decade it has instead become a gateway into America.