4. How could Biden address the current immigration problems in this country?In early 2024, Republicans in the Senate refused to pass a bill—developed by a bipartisan team of legislators—that would have made it harder to get asylum and given Biden the power to stop taking asylum applications when migrant crossings reached a certain number.During his speech, Biden called this bill the “toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in this country.”That bill would have also provided more federal money to help immigration agencies and courts quickly review more asylum claims and expedite the asylum process, which remains backlogged with millions of cases, Biden said. Biden said the bipartisan deal would also hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers, as well as 4,300 more asylum officers.Removing this backlog in immigration courts could mean that some undocumented migrants, who now might wait six to eight years for an asylum hearing, would instead only wait six weeks, Biden said. That means it would be “highly unlikely” that migrants would pay a large amount to be smuggled into the country, only to be “kicked out quickly,” Biden said.“My Republican friends, you owe it to the American people to get this bill done. We need to act,” Biden said.Biden’s remarks calling for Congress to pass the bill drew jeers from some in the audience. Biden quickly responded, saying that it was a bipartisan effort: “What are you against?” he asked.Biden is now considering using Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to get more control over immigration. This sweeping law allows the president to temporarily suspend or restrict the entry of all foreigners if their arrival is detrimental to the US.This obscure law gained attention when Trump used it in January 2017 to implement a travel ban on foreigners from mainly Muslim countries. The Supreme Court upheld the travel ban in 2018.Trump again also signed an executive order in April 2020 that blocked foreigners who were seeking lawful permanent residency from entering the country for 60 days, citing this same section of the Immigration and Nationality Act.Biden did not mention any possible use of Section 212(f) during his State of the Union speech. If the president uses this, it would likely be challenged in court. It is not clear that 212(f) would apply to people already in the US, and it conflicts with existing asylum law that gives people within the US the right to seek asylum.
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