# The 2024 Asylum Crackdown

> Facing record crossings and an election-year backlash, Biden issued a June 2024 proclamation and rule that largely shut off asylum for migrants crossing…

Joe Biden · Immigration · Proclamation · Jun 4, 2024
Official record: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB11178

## What happened

Facing record crossings and an election-year backlash, Biden issued a June 2024 proclamation and rule that largely shut off asylum for migrants crossing illegally once daily encounters topped a threshold (2,500), reopening only when they fell below 1,500 — a sharp reversal of his own earlier posture, using the same Section 212(f) authority Trump had used.

## How it happened

A presidential proclamation paired with a DHS/DOJ interim final rule; immediately challenged in court by immigrant-rights groups.

## Documented impact

- [positive / substantiated] Border crossings dropped sharply and stayed down. — June 2024 Border Patrol encounters fell to ~83,500, down 29% from May and the lowest monthly total since January 2021; the decline held through the rest of the year, aided by stepped-up Mexican enforcement.
- [mixed / substantiated] Improved Biden's standing on immigration without resolving it. — His immigration approval ticked up to a one-year high (~35%), and a Monmouth poll found 40% favored the order versus 27% opposed — but it remained a net-negative issue for him.
- [negative / contested] Criticized as gutting asylum and as an election-year about-face. — Immigrant-rights groups and some Democrats called it a border 'shutdown' (most experts said it stopped short of that), and noted it undid much of his own day-one approach; legal challenges followed.

## Public opinion

The June 2024 border/asylum order

Favor: 40% · Oppose: 27%

A plurality favored the crackdown, and it nudged Biden's immigration approval to a one-year high.

Source: Monmouth University, Jun 2024

## Sources

- [CRS: 'Securing the Border' proclamation & rule](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB11178)
- [NPR: Biden asylum order](https://www.npr.org/2024/06/04/nx-s1-4991917/biden-executive-order-asylum-migration-border)
- [PolitiFact: was it a border 'shutdown'?](https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/jun/07/ask-politifact-does-joe-bidens-asylum-order-shut-d/)

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