President Joe Biden halted deportations for “most” illegal aliens living in the United States for at least 100 days, just as a caravan of Central American migrants attempts a rush to the U.S.-Mexico border looking to benefit from the lax enforcement measures.
Biden signed the order hours after taking office on Wednesday, with a brief statement noting that the “DHS Secretary memo directs a review of immigration enforcement policies, interim priorities, and a 100-day pause on most removals.”
The deportation halt had become a promise to open borders groups after they successfully lobbied Biden in late 2019 and early 2020 to take up the issue. In March 2020, the open borders lobby began requesting Biden permanently halt deportations, although he has not gone that far yet.
Biden’s order could potentially serve as a boon to a caravan of Central American migrants headed to the border in the hopes of taking advantage of the new administration’s lax enforcement policies.
In a recent interview with CNN, a migrant with the caravan said Biden is “going to help all of us” by giving “us 100 days to get to the U.S.” — a direct reference to his 100-day deportation halt.
The interview gives insight into how the administration’s immigration agenda is being sold to migrants by international criminal organizations looking to traffic them across the border for pay.
The migration-friendly sentiment was reiterated this week by Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas.
In a Senate confirmation hearing, Mayorkas was asked, “What message would you want to give to those folks right now that are traveling north in that migrant caravan?”
Mayorkas responded that “there’s a commitment to follow our asylum laws, to enforce our asylum laws, and that means to provide humanitarian relief for those individuals who qualify for it under the law,” suggesting that many caravan migrants will be allowed to remain in the U.S.
Aside from the deportation halt, Biden is expected to end a series of U.S. cooperative asylum agreements with Central America that helped federal immigration officials quickly return border crossers to their native countries. Likewise, Biden is looking to end President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that has drastically reduced asylum fraud and effectively ended the Catch and Release program.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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