CNN reports that President Joe Biden issued an executive order this afternoon (6/4/2024) barring most migrants from crossing the southern border into the United States to seek asylum. Under the new executive order, unless the migrants seeking asylum meet certain exceptions, they will be turned away to Mexico or returned to their country of origin.
Border authorities reportedly encountered around 3,500 migrants crossing the border unlawfully yesterday (6/3/2024) – well above the reported threshold of 2,500 migrants per day, causing the executive action to take effect.
The executive order takes effect tonight at midnight, meaning it has an effective date of June 5, 2024.
The CNN article may be read in full HERE.
Newsmax reports that President Biden’s executive order will go into effect when the number of migrants seeking asylum between ports of entry hits 2,500 per day, according to senior administration officials.
This means that President Biden’s order should go into effect immediately, because that figure is less than the daily averages right now. Restrictions would then remain in effect until two weeks after the daily encounter numbers are at or below 1,500 per day between ports of entry, based on a seven-day average. These figures were first reported by The Associated Press yesterday (6/3/2024).
The legal authority being invoked by President Biden comes under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows a president to limit entries for certain migrants if such entries are deemed “detrimental” to the national interest.
The Newsmax article may be read in full HERE.
Newsmax also reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pointed out during today’s House Republican Leadership News Conference on C-Span that President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have issued 64 executive orders to open up the border. Johnson stated that “they engineered the open border. They did it intentionally. There’s no question about it. Now [President Biden] wants to issue some weak executive order to try to address the issue. It’s window dressing. Everybody knows it.”
This Newsmax article may be read in full HERE.
The House Republican Leadership News Conference may be viewed via C-Span video HERE.
My brothers and sisters, it is unfortunate that President Biden’s new executive action seems very late in the game and is only marginally corrective regarding the number of illegal crossings into the United States.
As many news agencies and commentators have suggested, this new order appears to be timed solely due to the upcoming general election and is yet another way to arbitrarily establish “thresholds of allowable illegality” without seriously diminishing or ending undocumented and illegal immigration into the United States.
Please don’t misunderstand this writer’s concerns! As followers of Christ, we must recognize that every single person who crosses the U.S. southern border is no less loved or important to God than anyone else. God created us all in His image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26-27), and has a good plan for our lives (see Jeremiah 29:11-12)!
The question becomes chaos vs. opportunity and blessing. God is not a God of chaos (see 1 Corinthians 14:33); that realm is within the devil’s purview. Compassion, similarly, is not generally found in the midst of chaos. The current border situation is rife with potential terrorist and criminal influx to the nation, human smuggling, rape, drownings, hunger, thirst, family separation, drug cartel involvement and so forth – all of which is happening along the southern border because of lax or disregarded border policies.
Let’s pray that President Biden – and all of our federal and state officials with influence in this area – would not rely on the wisdom of the world when making decisions, but rather, would seek the wisdom of God (see 1 Corinthians 3:19 and James 3:13-18), as they consider the security of the United States AND godly compassion for those seeking protection or a better life for their families.
Here are the above-referenced scriptures:
Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV)
“Then God said, ‘[l]et Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Jeremiah 29:11-12 (NKJV)
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”
1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV)
“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
1 Corinthians 3:19 (NLT)
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, ‘He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.’”
James 3:13-18 (NLT)
True Wisdom Comes from God
“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”
Praise Jesus forevermore!
