Hispanic, liberal Democrats bash Biden's expected asylum cap

House liberals — particularly those in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — are blasting President Biden's coming executive policy expected to limit asylum seekers at the southern border, saying it belies America’s historic place as a global refuge for persecuted people.

"I'm disappointed that this is a direction that the president has decided to take,” Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told reporters in the Capitol Tuesday morning. 

The Democratic critics are quick to blame Republicans for sinking a bipartisan immigration reform package earlier in the year at the behest of former President Trump, saying GOP leaders denied Biden the resources to address the border crisis in a more orderly — and humane — way. 

But they’re also voicing strong reservations with Biden’s coming executive order, which is expected to put a new cap on daily crossings for asylum seekers, set at 2,500, and close the border to additional applicants afterwards.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) invoked the tragic case of the St. Louis, a German ship carrying hundreds of Jewish refugees out of Nazi Germany in 1939 only to be denied entry into the United States. The ship was forced to return to Europe, where more than 200 were killed in the Holocaust. 

“Republicans haven't shown any good faith efforts to really solve the crisis and to authorize the president with the resources that he needs. I think we need more resources towards immigration officers [and] judges,” Takano said. “But I'm very troubled by a movement away from our country being a sanctuary for people who have credible fear of persecution.” 

Takano, a member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, also questioned whether Biden has the authority to cap the number of daily asylum seekers without congressional action. 

“He's asserting authorities that I don't think he has,” Takano said. “And we'll see how this moves its way through the courts.”

The pushback highlights the difficulties facing Biden and other Democratic leaders as they scramble to manage the thousands of asylum seekers arriving at the southern border each day. Republicans, including Trump, have bashed the administration for doing too little to address the crisis, and polls indicate that border security concerns rank high on voters’ minds, making the issue a material liability for the president as he seeks another term in office. 

Barragán said she and other members of the Hispanic Caucus had huddled with the president in recent weeks to propose their own list of potential executive actions Biden could take on immigration and border policy, including new rights for undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for an extended period of time. She said she’s holding out hope that Biden’s formal unveiling of his new asylum policy, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, will feature some of those other actions. 

“We think it needs to be paired with positive actions and protections for undocumenteds, folks that have been here for a long time," she said. 

The criticisms have created a dilemma for Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, caught between supporting their ally in the White House while paying regard to the concerns of members in their own caucus. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) seemed to be straddling that divide Tuesday morning ahead of Biden’s rollout. 

"It's important that President Biden is planning to take decisive action given the fact that extreme MAGA Republicans have decided to try to weaponize the issue of the challenges at the border, as opposed to solving the issue legislatively,” Jeffries said.

Pressed on the wisdom of setting a limit on asylum seekers, Jeffries declined to comment. 

“I will reserve any further comment until after I hear the president publicly articulate to the American people the reasons why he is taking these actions," he said. 

Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said he supports a system where anyone being persecuted at home can seek asylum in the United States, warning that closing the border is a dangerous move, not least because it could harm local border economies. But he also bashed Republicans for opposing legislative solutions for fixing America's broken immigration system, which GOP leaders killed earlier in the year after Trump came out against a fix.

“They don’t want the issue to be resolved and solved. They want this to just be a political issue,” Meeks said.

"The responsibility lies on us in Congress," he added. "The president feels right now that he has no other alternative."