Frederica Freyberg:
President Joe Biden took action on the hot political issue of immigration and border control.

Joe Biden:
They choose to come without permission and against the law, they’ll be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.

Frederica Freyberg:
Asylum requests would be shut down when ports of entry averaged 2500 encounters with migrants per day. Because numbers are higher than that now, this means that the border could be closed to migrants effective immediately. We asked Erin Barbato of the UW-Madison Law School’s Immigration Justice Clinic for her reaction Erin Barbato.

Erin Barbato:
I’m not surprised that there is a more restrictive policy that is coming across, even from Biden’s office, because it has become so politicized and there’s so much misunderstanding about the border. You know, all we do is hear “influx” and “emergency.” And, but we’re really forgetting about that this is a humanitarian issue. And that as the United States, we have laws that allow people to seek protection here when they will be persecuted or have been persecuted in their home country, and now we’re just blocking that off again for many people that will be, would otherwise be eligible for protections in the U.S. But as a political — the political nature of immigration right now is I think this is by restricting things at the border is the only way someone is going to gain popularity with the general population, even though that’s incredibly disheartening.