(NewsNation) — Migrants are utilizing a loophole in President Joe Biden’s executive action at the southern border, which includes an exception where a migrant could avoid deportation if flights back to their home country are limited.
The executive action, which aims to restrict the number of people coming over the southern border, bars migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials deem the border is overwhelmed. The order goes into effect when the number of border encounters between ports of entry hits 2,500 per day, according to senior administration officials.
The restrictions on asylum claims would remain in place for an additional 14 days once daily encounters at the border fall to a seven-day average of 1,500 or less.
The border plan includes an exception for “operational considerations,” where migrants from certain nationalities could avoid deportation if flights to their home countries are limited.
The executive action prioritizes removing migrants from the Northern Triangle countries: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
A DHS document outlined the procedure that gives priority to detaining migrants who can be easily deported, followed by harder-to-remove nationalities, which require at least five days to issue travel documents, then the very hard-to-remove nationalities whose governments don’t accept U.S. flights.
Thousands of migrants under the banned list have already been deported, according to DHS officials. However, the agency has acknowledged they just don’t have the means to deport everyone.
The loophole primarily impacts migrants from South American, Asian, African and European countries where deportation flights are not only more complex but more expensive for U.S. officials.
So far, the executive action has not deterred migrants from entering the San Diego Sector. NewsNation encountered migrants from Togo, Chad, India, China, Turkey, Colombia, Sudan, Mauritania and Jordan. One Palestinian migrant told NewsNation they feel safe being in the U.S.
Democrats’ views of Biden’s border crackdown are consistent with voters across the board: 40% of registered voters approve of the move, 27% are opposed, and 33% say they have no opinion.