83 FR 57661 - Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern Border of the United States

Executive Office of the President

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 221 (November 15, 2018)

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 221 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 57661-57664]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-25117]



[[Page 57659]]

Vol. 83

Thursday,

No. 221

November 15, 2018

Part V





The President





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Proclamation 9822--Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern 
Border of the United States



Proclamation 9823--American Education Week, 2018



Proclamation 9824--National Apprenticeship Week, 2018



Proclamation 9825--Veterans Day, 2018


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 221 / Thursday, November 15, 2018 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 57661]]

                Proclamation 9822 of November 9, 2018

                
Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern 
                Border of the United States

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The United States expects the arrival at the border 
                between the United States and Mexico (southern border) 
                of a substantial number of aliens primarily from 
                Central America who appear to have no lawful basis for 
                admission into our country. They are traveling in 
                large, organized groups through Mexico and reportedly 
                intend to enter the United States unlawfully or without 
                proper documentation and to seek asylum, despite the 
                fact that, based on past experience, a significant 
                majority will not be eligible for or be granted that 
                benefit. Many entered Mexico unlawfully--some with 
                violence--and have rejected opportunities to apply for 
                asylum and benefits in Mexico. The arrival of large 
                numbers of aliens will contribute to the overloading of 
                our immigration and asylum system and to the release of 
                thousands of aliens into the interior of the United 
                States. The continuing and threatened mass migration of 
                aliens with no basis for admission into the United 
                States through our southern border has precipitated a 
                crisis and undermines the integrity of our borders. I 
                therefore must take immediate action to protect the 
                national interest, and to maintain the effectiveness of 
                the asylum system for legitimate asylum seekers who 
                demonstrate that they have fled persecution and warrant 
                the many special benefits associated with asylum.

                In recent weeks, an average of approximately 2,000 
                inadmissible aliens have entered each day at our 
                southern border. In Fiscal Year 2018 overall, 124,511 
                aliens were found inadmissible at ports of entry on the 
                southern border, while 396,579 aliens were apprehended 
                entering the United States unlawfully between such 
                ports of entry. The great number of aliens who cross 
                unlawfully into the United States through the southern 
                border consumes tremendous resources as the Government 
                seeks to surveil, apprehend, screen, process, and 
                detain them.

                Aliens who enter the United States unlawfully or 
                without proper documentation and are subject to 
                expedited removal may avoid being promptly removed by 
                demonstrating, during an initial screening process, a 
                credible fear of persecution or torture. Approximately 
                2 decades ago, most aliens deemed inadmissible at a 
                port of entry or apprehended after unlawfully entering 
                the United States through the southern border were 
                single adults who were promptly returned to Mexico, and 
                very few asserted a fear of return. Since then, 
                however, there has been a massive increase in fear-of-
                persecution or torture claims by aliens who enter the 
                United States through the southern border. The vast 
                majority of such aliens are found to satisfy the 
                credible-fear threshold, although only a fraction of 
                the claimants whose claims are adjudicated ultimately 
                qualify for asylum or other protection. Aliens found to 
                have a credible fear are often released into the 
                interior of the United States, as a result of a lack of 
                detention space and a variety of other legal and 
                practical difficulties, pending adjudication of their 
                claims in a full removal proceeding in immigration 
                court. The immigration adjudication process often takes 
                years to complete because of the growing volume of 
                claims and because of the need to expedite proceedings 
                for detained aliens. During that time, many released 
                aliens fail to appear for hearings, do not

[[Page 57662]]

                comply with subsequent orders of removal, or are 
                difficult to locate and remove.

                Members of family units pose particular challenges. The 
                Federal Government lacks sufficient facilities to house 
                families together. Virtually all members of family 
                units who enter the United States through the southern 
                border, unlawfully or without proper documentation, and 
                that are found to have a credible fear of persecution, 
                are thus released into the United States. Against this 
                backdrop of near-assurance of release, the number of 
                such aliens traveling as family units who enter through 
                the southern border and claim a credible fear of 
                persecution has greatly increased. And large numbers of 
                family units decide to make the dangerous and unlawful 
                border crossing with their children.

                The United States has a long and proud history of 
                offering protection to aliens who are fleeing 
                persecution and torture and who qualify under the 
                standards articulated in our immigration laws, 
                including through our asylum system and the Refugee 
                Admissions Program. But our system is being overwhelmed 
                by migration through our southern border. Crossing the 
                border to avoid detection and then, if apprehended, 
                claiming a fear of persecution is in too many instances 
                an avenue to near-automatic release into the interior 
                of the United States. Once released, such aliens are 
                very difficult to remove. An additional influx of large 
                groups of aliens arriving at once through the southern 
                border would add tremendous strain to an already taxed 
                system, especially if they avoid orderly processing by 
                unlawfully crossing the southern border.

                The entry of large numbers of aliens into the United 
                States unlawfully between ports of entry on the 
                southern border is contrary to the national interest, 
                and our law has long recognized that aliens who seek to 
                lawfully enter the United States must do so at ports of 
                entry. Unlawful entry puts lives of both law 
                enforcement and aliens at risk. By contrast, entry at 
                ports of entry at the southern border allows for 
                orderly processing, which enables the efficient 
                deployment of law enforcement resources across our vast 
                southern border.

                Failing to take immediate action to stem the mass 
                migration the United States is currently experiencing 
                and anticipating would only encourage additional mass 
                unlawful migration and further overwhelming of the 
                system.

                Other presidents have taken strong action to prevent 
                mass migration. In Proclamation 4865 of September 29, 
                1981 (High Seas Interdiction of Illegal Aliens), in 
                response to an influx of Haitian nationals traveling to 
                the United States by sea, President Reagan suspended 
                the entry of undocumented aliens from the high seas and 
                ordered the Coast Guard to intercept such aliens before 
                they reached United States shores and to return them to 
                their point of origin. In Executive Order 12807 of May 
                24, 1992 (Interdiction of Illegal Aliens), in response 
                to a dramatic increase in the unlawful mass migration 
                of Haitian nationals to the United States, President 
                Bush ordered additional measures to interdict such 
                Haitian nationals and return them to their home 
                country. The Supreme Court upheld the legality of those 
                measures in Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc., 509 
                U.S. 155 (1993).

                I am similarly acting to suspend, for a limited period, 
                the entry of certain aliens in order to address the 
                problem of large numbers of aliens traveling through 
                Mexico to enter our country unlawfully or without 
                proper documentation. I am tailoring the suspension to 
                channel these aliens to ports of entry, so that, if 
                they enter the United States, they do so in an orderly 
                and controlled manner instead of unlawfully. Under this 
                suspension, aliens entering through the southern 
                border, even those without proper documentation, may, 
                consistent with this proclamation, avail themselves of 
                our asylum system, provided that they properly present 
                themselves for inspection at a port of entry. In 
                anticipation of a large group of aliens arriving in the 
                coming weeks, I am directing the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security to commit additional resources to support our 
                ports of entry at the southern border

[[Page 57663]]

                to assist in processing those aliens--and all others 
                arriving at our ports of entry--as efficiently as 
                possible.

                But aliens who enter the United States unlawfully 
                through the southern border in contravention of this 
                proclamation will be ineligible to be granted asylum 
                under the regulation promulgated by the Attorney 
                General and the Secretary of Homeland Security that 
                became effective earlier today. Those aliens may, 
                however, still seek other forms of protection from 
                persecution or torture. In addition, this limited 
                suspension will facilitate ongoing negotiations with 
                Mexico and other countries regarding appropriate 
                cooperative arrangements to prevent unlawful mass 
                migration to the United States through the southern 
                border. Thus, this proclamation is also necessary to 
                manage and conduct the foreign affairs of the United 
                States effectively.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, 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 (INA) (8 
                U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), respectively) hereby find 
                that, absent the measures set forth in this 
                proclamation, the entry into the United States of 
                persons described in section 1 of this proclamation 
                would be detrimental to the interests of the United 
                States, and that their entry should be subject to 
                certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions. I 
                therefore hereby proclaim the following:

                Section 1. Suspension and Limitation on Entry. The 
                entry of any alien into the United States across the 
                international boundary between the United States and 
                Mexico is hereby suspended and limited, subject to 
                section 2 of this proclamation. That suspension and 
                limitation shall expire 90 days after the date of this 
                proclamation or the date on which an agreement permits 
                the United States to remove aliens to Mexico in 
                compliance with the terms of section 208(a)(2)(A) of 
                the INA (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)(A)), whichever is earlier.

                Sec. 2. Scope and Implementation of Suspension and 
                Limitation on Entry. (a) The suspension and limitation 
                on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation 
                shall apply only to aliens who enter the United States 
                after the date of this proclamation.

                    (b) The suspension and limitation on entry pursuant 
                to section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply to 
                any alien who enters the United States at a port of 
                entry and properly presents for inspection, or to any 
                lawful permanent resident of the United States.
                    (c) Nothing in this proclamation shall limit an 
                alien entering the United States from being considered 
                for withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3) of 
                the INA (8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3)) or protection pursuant to 
                the regulations promulgated under the authority of the 
                implementing legislation regarding the Convention 
                Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading 
                Treatment or Punishment, or limit the statutory 
                processes afforded to unaccompanied alien children upon 
                entering the United States under section 279 of title 
                6, United States Code, and section 1232 of title 8, 
                United States Code.
                    (d) No later than 90 days after the date of this 
                proclamation, the Secretary of State, the Attorney 
                General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
                jointly submit to the President, through the Assistant 
                to the President for National Security Affairs, a 
                recommendation on whether an extension or renewal of 
                the suspension or limitation on entry in section 1 of 
                this proclamation is in the interests of the United 
                States.

                Sec. 3. Interdiction. The Secretary of State and the 
                Secretary of Homeland Security shall consult with the 
                Government of Mexico regarding appropriate steps--
                consistent with applicable law and the foreign policy, 
                national security, and public-safety interests of the 
                United States--to address the approach of large groups 
                of aliens traveling through Mexico with the intent of 
                entering the United States unlawfully, including 
                efforts to deter, dissuade, and return

[[Page 57664]]

                such aliens before they physically enter United States 
                territory through the southern border.

                Sec. 4. 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:

                    (a) 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 other 
                provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall 
                not be affected thereby; and
                    (b) if any provision of this proclamation, or the 
                application of any provision to any person or 
                circumstance, is held to be invalid because of the 
                failure to follow certain procedures, the relevant 
                executive branch officials shall implement those 
                procedural requirements to conform with existing law 
                and with any applicable court orders.

                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 
                ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                third.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2018-25117
Filed 11-14-18; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F9-P