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1 1 (February 29, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveolw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional_______ Research Service Can the President Close the Border? Relevant Laws and Considerations Updated February 29, 2024 The ongoing debate between some Members of Congress and the President over how to respond to the record number of alien encounters at the southern border has recently intensified. One disagreement centers on the scope of the existing authorities conferred by Congress to the executive branch to deter illegal border crossings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump and Biden Administrations imposed significant restrictions on alien entry and access to asylum that were tied to the declared national health emergency. The question remains whether the executive branch could impose similarly broad restrictions under existing immigration statutes in situations not tied to a declared public health emergency. This Legal Sidebar identifies the statutes and legal issues related to the ongoing debate about the President's authority to close ports of entry or close the border. The analysis is necessarily general, as a discussion regarding an executive decision to close some ports of entry to certain categories of non-U.S. nationals requires a different legal analysis than would a decision to close all ports on the southern border to all goods and persons seeking to enter the United States, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs). Moreover, the relationship between any port closure measures and the justification that the executive branch articulates would bear on the legal analysis. The discussion in this Sidebar mainly sets out the primary relevant authorities and the considerations that may be considered if the executive branch acts under such authorities. Prior Executive Action Prior to the Trump presidency, there were at least two occasions when past Presidents substantially restricted operations at ports of entry on the southern border. These past restrictions were short lived. Furthermore, these executive measures did not prompt legal challenges that required federal courts to assess the executive branch's authority for such actions. The measures taken on one of the occasions-the aftermath of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963-may have constituted a full closure of ports of entry on the southern border for much of the afternoon and evening of November 22, 1963. On another occasion, during President Reagan's Administration, nine ports of entry were closed for a matter of days after the abduction of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Mexico in 1985. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10283 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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