NEW YORK CITY - The White House is finalizing details for a new executive action that would temporarily shut down the southern border to migrants if deemed necessary, according to an exclusive report from NBC News.
The Biden administration is planning to reveal the full details of the executive action in June, as officials are currently in talks with Mexican counterparts to get their cooperation on some key provisions. No final decisions have been made.
The presidential authority officials are eyeing comes from the U.S. Code known as Section 212 (f), which would let the president unilaterally "suspend the entry" of specific groups of migrants whenever the number of attempted border crossings is considered to be too large.
The administration is also weighing a series of other steps that could be rolled out over several weeks, including at least one action that would further limit who can seek asylum at the border.
For Biden to use this authority, Mexico would have to be willing to take back a certain number of the migrants barred from entering the U.S. on a regular basis, two officials told NBC News.
Nevertheless, Mexico's collaboration could be tricky, as their displacement of migrants have already been costly for the country. Asking Mexico to take back even more migrants could be more burdensome for them, the news outlet explains.
At the same time, Mexico is already dealing with other priorities, including their high-profile and historic election. Over the past year, immigration has become an increasingly sensitive topic in the country, bringing concern to parties that major changes to the system could affect the outcome of the race.
Regardless of the decisions made by both administrations, Biden and his team are already preparing for legal challenges and disputes stemming from executive actions.
"I expect that if the president were to take executive action, and whatever that executive action that might entail, it will be challenged in the court," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters Monday.
Senior administration officials have expressed similar concerns, with one stressing "we recognize that there are limits to what any administration can do in this space with executive action."
The report comes as Senate Democrats are set to force a vote on the bipartisan border package that Republicans blocked earlier this year. Conservatives, on the other hand, are slamming the efforts as "not a border security bill" at a news conference Wednesday.
"Democrats are doing this because we believed in fixing the border and we have the most— the only real bipartisan bill negotiated by both sides with a real chance of passing and being put on the president's desk," Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday. "Everything the Republicans do has no chance of passing," he said, referring to the House Republican border security bill known as H.R. 2.
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