How Biden’s Border Action Impacts Women

Give me your tired and your poor … but I’ll send them right back.

That’s how many immigration advocates perceive the state of immigration since President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week cracking down on asylum seekers at the southern border.

The action, which enables the White House to suspend asylum claims between ports of entry once border crossings hit a daily threshold average of 2,500 over a seven day period, sparked immediate outcry from advocacy organizations who say that the move is illegal. Women in particular, immigration experts say, will face heightened risk as a result of the action.

Melanie Nezer, vice president of advocacy and external relations at the Women’s Refugee Commission, says the action will inflict more “needless suffering” on people coming to the border in search of a better life. According to Nezer, limiting asylum won’t actually deter people from coming — it’ll only make their journeys more dangerous.