Biden: The Foreign Aid Bill Will Help Migrants Enter the U.S. Legally 90 Percent Faster

Biden: “... stop fentanyl at the southwest border. We have that capacity. And additional, 100 additional immigration judges, to help reduce the year-long asylum backlog. You show for asylum, the judge is supposed to talk to you, it takes a year to get that discussion going. This bill would also established new, efficient, and fair process for the government to consider an asylum claim for those arriving at the border.

Today, the process can take five to seven years as you all know. You show up at the border, get a bracelet, told to come back when called, five to seven years now in the country. That’s too long, and it’s not rational. With the new policies in this bill, and the additional 4,300 more asylum officers who spent hours, I might add, with each immigrant to consider their claims, whether they qualify, we’ll be able to reduce that process to six months, not five to seven years.

This bipartisan bill will also expedite work permits so those who are here and who qualify can begin work more quickly. That’s something that our governors, our mayors and our business leaders have been asking me for, and asking them for. All across the country they’ve been asking for this. It’ll also create more opportunities for families to come together, for business to hire additional workers, and for the first time in 30 years, the first time in 30 years, this bipartisan legislation increases the number of immigrant visas for people legally, legally able to come to this country through ports of entry, and ensures for the first time that vulnerable unaccompanied young children have legal representation at the border. This bill will also give me as president, the emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when it becomes over —“