Former CBP chief Morgan says Biden's executive order does not shut down the southern border

Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said Wednesday that President Joe Biden's recent executive order does not shut down the southern border. 

"It's very important to understand this executive order, no matter how many times they say it... doesn't 'shut down or close the border.' Not for a day. Not for 10 minutes [or] not for 30 seconds," Morgan said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. 

President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order to crackdown on illegal immigration which was met with backlash from Republican lawmakers. 

Biden said that his executive order will "bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum ... unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process."

One legal pathway includes making an appointment through the CBP One app at a port of entry to make an asylum claim then, Biden said.

Morgan said that the order would legalize the lawlessness and chaos that has been going on at the border for the past few years. 

"They're actually going to allow 2,500 individuals to illegally enter the border, and they're not going to do anything different," he said. "They're going to continue to process and release them."

The press release from the White House does not mention the illegal crossing thresholds, but the proclamation does say that "encounter levels increased toward the end of 2023, and December 2023 saw the highest level of encounters between ports of entry in history, as increasing numbers of people migrated through the Western Hemisphere."