President Joe Biden will spend the weekend at his beach home in Rehoboth, Delaware after forcing asylum officers along the souther border to work both weekend days to deal with the migrant surge following the end of the Title 42 public health order.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre announced that on Saturday morning the president will deliver the Howard University commencement address in Washington, D.C.
“The president will then travel to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he and the first lady will remain over the weekend,” she said.
The announcement comes after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is forcing asylum officers to work through the weekend in an effort to deal with the surge of migrants at the southern border seeking to claim asylum in the U.S., Fox News Digital learned exclusively on Friday.
A DHS memo sent Friday morning by the associate director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Refugee, Asylum and International Operations (RAIO) and seen by Fox News Digital says that employees had been informed Thursday of the need for them to work at least one day this weekend — and now the agency is going a step further.
President Joe Biden leaves following services at St. Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on April 15, 2023. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“Developments emerging over the course of the day made clear that more resources are needed, and we must take immediate steps to increase the number of staff available on both Saturday and Sunday to meet the need,” it says.
“In order to ensure full operational readiness, I must now ask that all Asylum Division employees, with limited exception, work both Saturday and Sunday this weekend,” Associate Director Ted Kim says.
The memo says that the only positions exempted will be those who do not provide direct support to “credible fear” process — in which migrants seeking to claim asylum first establish that they have a credible fear of persecution if returned to their home country.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The unusual mandate comes hours after the Title 42 public health order at the southern border ended along with the COVID-19 national emergency on Thursday night. The order has been in place since March 2020 and allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border.
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Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks at a news conference on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, ahead of the lifting of Title 42. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
The expiration had brought expectations of a mammoth surge at the border as migrants believe they are more likely to be admitted to the U.S. — a claim that DHS has repeatedly disputed.
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Border Patrol agents encountered over 10,000 migrants a day for at least three days this week so far, with multiple sectors facing overcapacity. The agency has sought to release migrants into the interior without court dates but has been blocked by a court order handed down late Thursday.
