On June 3, 2024, I signed Proclamation 10773 (Securing the Border). That proclamation suspended and limited the entry of certain noncitizens into the United States across the southern border during times of high border crossings, and directed the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to promptly consider issuing any instructions, orders, or regulations as might be necessary to address the circumstances at the southern border, including any additional limitations and conditions on asylum eligibility that they determined were warranted. Following that direction, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General issued an interim final rule (IFR) that established a limitation on asylum eligibility for certain noncitizens who enter the United States across the southern border during times when Proclamation 10773 and the IFR are designed to be in effect, and revised certain procedures applicable to the expedited removal process to more swiftly apply consequences for irregular migration during those times for noncitizens who do not establish a lawful basis to remain.
Those actions have already produced significant results. Since Proclamation 10773 and the IFR went into effect, and as of the end of the last calendar month, the average number of encounters by the United States Border Patrol at our southwest border between ports of entry has decreased by 59 percent compared to the period after the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule began to apply on May 12, 2023, and before Proclamation 10773 and the IFR went into effect. July and August 2024 were the lowest 2 months of encounters between ports of entry since September 2020. While Proclamation 10773 and the IFR have been in effect, and for individuals encountered between southern border ports of entry as of the end of the last calendar month, the Department of Homeland Security has removed or returned 70 percent of single adults and family members, including more than 119,000 individuals to more than 140 countries; has more than tripled the percentage of noncitizens processed through expedited removal; and has decreased the percentage of noncitizens encountered at the southwest border who are released by United States Border Patrol pending their removal proceedings by 52 percent.
Following the issuance of the IFR, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice (Departments) received and reviewed more than 1,000 comments. Based on their review of those comments and their experience in implementing Proclamation 10773 and the IFR, the Departments have identified two issues related to the thresholds for determining when to apply the suspension and limitation on entry in Proclamation 10773 and the measures described in the IFR.
First, having closely monitored the 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of encounters following the issuance of Proclamation 10773 and the IFR, the Departments have assessed that the current threshold for discontinuing the suspension and limitation on entry in Proclamation 10773 and the measures described in the IFR could be reached following a short-term decrease in the number of encounters at the southern border that does not reflect a sustained decrease in the number of such encounters or an end to the border circumstances in which Proclamation 10773 and the IFR are designed to apply. The Departments are currently considering regulatory action to address this issue as it relates to the measures described in the IFR. With respect to Proclamation 10773, to ensure that the threshold to discontinue the suspension and limitation on entry reflects a sustained decrease in encounters, I have now determined that the suspension and limitation on entry in that proclamation should be discontinued only after the Secretary of Homeland Security has made a factual determination that there have been 28 consecutive calendar days in which the 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of encounters is less than 1,500.
Second, while Proclamation 10773 and the IFR excluded encounters of unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries from the calculation of encounters, the Departments have assessed, based on their experience implementing Proclamation 10773 and the IFR, that this exclusion is unwarranted because processing such noncitizens is particularly resource-intensive for our frontline personnel at the southern border. This experience indicates that excluding these noncitizens from the calculation yields inaccurate estimates of system capacity. Again, the Departments are currently considering regulatory action to address this issue as it relates to the measures described in the IFR. I have now concluded that in order to better achieve Proclamation 10773’s goal of enhancing our ability to address historic levels of migration and more efficiently process migrants arriving at the southern border, that proclamation should include unaccompanied children from both non-contiguous and contiguous countries in the calculation of encounters. Consistent with section 3(b)(iii) of Proclamation 10773, any unaccompanied children will remain excepted from the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of Proclamation 10773.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a)) and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that, absent the measures set forth in Proclamation 10773, as amended by this proclamation, the entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of Proclamation 10773 under circumstances described in section 2 of Proclamation 10773, as amended by this proclamation, would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that the entry of such persons should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions. I therefore hereby proclaim the following:
Section 1. Amendment to Section 2(a) of Proclamation 10773. Section 2(a) of Proclamation 10773 is amended to read as follows:
“The Secretary of Homeland Security shall monitor the number of daily encounters and, subject to subsection (b) of this section, the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall be discontinued at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on the date that is 14 calendar days after the Secretary makes a factual determination that there have been 28 consecutive calendar days of a 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of less than 1,500 encounters, not including encounters described in subsection 4(a)(iii) of this proclamation.”
Sec. 2. Revocation of Section 2(c) of Proclamation 10773. Section 2(c) of Proclamation 10773 is revoked.
Sec. 3. Severability. It is the policy of the United States to enforce this proclamation to the maximum extent possible to advance the interests of the United States. Accordingly, if any provision of this proclamation, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 4. Effectiveness. The amendments described in sections 1 and 2 of this proclamation shall be effective if and when there is in effect a final rule promulgated by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General that amends the IFR entitled Securing the Border, 89 Fed. Reg. 48,710 (June 7, 2024), consistent with the amendments described in sections 1 and 2 of this proclamation. If, due to court order, the final rule described in the prior sentence cannot be enforced insofar as it makes changes consistent with the amendment described in section 1 of this proclamation, then the amendment described in section 1 of this proclamation will no longer be in effect and section 2(a) of Proclamation 10773 shall continue to apply by its terms. If, due to court order, the final rule described in the first sentence of this section cannot be enforced insofar as it makes changes consistent with the amendment described in section 2 of this proclamation, then the amendment described in section 2 of this proclamation will no longer be in effect and section 2(c) of Proclamation 10773 shall continue to apply by its terms.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
