Biden finally heads to border as critics condemn his migrant crackdown

Advocates attack president's failure to uphold campaign pledges ahead of first visit to southern border since he took office

Under pressure to address a surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border, Joe Biden announced a far-reaching crackdown on migrants seeking asylum last week, expanding the use of a controversial public health measure known as Title 42 to restrict people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela from illegally entering the US, while offering those legally seeking relief a new pathway to America.

Before the president's first trip to the US-Mexico border since he took office in 2020, immigration advocates condemned the Biden administration's decision to expand Title 42 as disheartening and a failure to uphold his campaign promises. They took some solace in the creation of a legal pathway to asylum for those in four countries, but still, for them, Biden's actions were not enough - they leave out other migrants, and the parole program is beset by requirements that impose significant barriers to migrants without access to resources, perpetuating inequities within the US immigration system.