[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 80351-80353]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22942]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 191 / Wednesday, October 2, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 80351]]


                Proclamation 10817 of September 27, 2024

                
Amending Proclamation 10773

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On June 3, 2024, I signed Proclamation 10773 (Securing 
                the Border). That proclamation suspended and limited 
                the entry of certain noncitizens into the United States 
                across the southern border during times of high border 
                crossings, and directed the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security and the Attorney General to promptly consider 
                issuing any instructions, orders, or regulations as 
                might be necessary to address the circumstances at the 
                southern border, including any additional limitations 
                and conditions on asylum eligibility that they 
                determined were warranted. Following that direction, 
                the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney 
                General issued an interim final rule (IFR) that 
                established a limitation on asylum eligibility for 
                certain noncitizens who enter the United States across 
                the southern border during times when Proclamation 
                10773 and the IFR are designed to be in effect, and 
                revised certain procedures applicable to the expedited 
                removal process to more swiftly apply consequences for 
                irregular migration during those times for noncitizens 
                who do not establish a lawful basis to remain.

                Those actions have already produced significant 
                results. Since Proclamation 10773 and the IFR went into 
                effect, and as of the end of the last calendar month, 
                the average number of encounters by the United States 
                Border Patrol at our southwest border between ports of 
                entry has decreased by 59 percent compared to the 
                period after the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule 
                began to apply on May 12, 2023, and before Proclamation 
                10773 and the IFR went into effect. July and August 
                2024 were the lowest 2 months of encounters between 
                ports of entry since September 2020. While Proclamation 
                10773 and the IFR have been in effect, and for 
                individuals encountered between southern border ports 
                of entry as of the end of the last calendar month, the 
                Department of Homeland Security has removed or returned 
                70 percent of single adults and family members, 
                including more than 119,000 individuals to more than 
                140 countries; has more than tripled the percentage of 
                noncitizens processed through expedited removal; and 
                has decreased the percentage of noncitizens encountered 
                at the southwest border who are released by United 
                States Border Patrol pending their removal proceedings 
                by 52 percent.

                Following the issuance of the IFR, the Department of 
                Homeland Security and the Department of Justice 
                (Departments) received and reviewed more than 1,000 
                comments. Based on their review of those comments and 
                their experience in implementing Proclamation 10773 and 
                the IFR, the Departments have identified two issues 
                related to the thresholds for determining when to apply 
                the suspension and limitation on entry in Proclamation 
                10773 and the measures described in the IFR.

                First, having closely monitored the 7-consecutive-
                calendar-day average of encounters following the 
                issuance of Proclamation 10773 and the IFR, the 
                Departments have assessed that the current threshold 
                for discontinuing the suspension and limitation on 
                entry in Proclamation 10773 and the measures described 
                in the IFR could be reached following a short-term 
                decrease in the number of encounters at the southern 
                border that does not reflect a sustained decrease in 
                the number of such encounters or an end to the

[[Page 80352]]

                border circumstances in which Proclamation 10773 and 
                the IFR are designed to apply. The Departments are 
                currently considering regulatory action to address this 
                issue as it relates to the measures described in the 
                IFR. With respect to Proclamation 10773, to ensure that 
                the threshold to discontinue the suspension and 
                limitation on entry reflects a sustained decrease in 
                encounters, I have now determined that the suspension 
                and limitation on entry in that proclamation should be 
                discontinued only after the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security has made a factual determination that there 
                have been 28 consecutive calendar days in which the 7-
                consecutive-calendar-day average of encounters is less 
                than 1,500.

                Second, while Proclamation 10773 and the IFR excluded 
                encounters of unaccompanied children from non-
                contiguous countries from the calculation of 
                encounters, the Departments have assessed, based on 
                their experience implementing Proclamation 10773 and 
                the IFR, that this exclusion is unwarranted because 
                processing such noncitizens is particularly resource-
                intensive for our frontline personnel at the southern 
                border. This experience indicates that excluding these 
                noncitizens from the calculation yields inaccurate 
                estimates of system capacity. Again, the Departments 
                are currently considering regulatory action to address 
                this issue as it relates to the measures described in 
                the IFR. I have now concluded that in order to better 
                achieve Proclamation 10773's goal of enhancing our 
                ability to address historic levels of migration and 
                more efficiently process migrants arriving at the 
                southern border, that proclamation should include 
                unaccompanied children from both non-contiguous and 
                contiguous countries in the calculation of encounters. 
                Consistent with section 3(b)(iii) of Proclamation 
                10773, any unaccompanied children will remain excepted 
                from the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to 
                section 1 of Proclamation 10773.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States, 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 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 
                1185(a)) and section 301 of title 3, United States 
                Code, hereby find that, absent the measures set forth 
                in Proclamation 10773, as amended by this proclamation, 
                the entry into the United States of persons described 
                in section 1 of Proclamation 10773 under circumstances 
                described in section 2 of Proclamation 10773, as 
                amended by this proclamation, would be detrimental to 
                the interests of the United States, and that the entry 
                of such persons should be subject to certain 
                restrictions, limitations, and exceptions. I therefore 
                hereby proclaim the following:

                Section 1. Amendment to Section 2(a) of Proclamation 
                10773. Section 2(a) of Proclamation 10773 is amended to 
                read as follows:

                    ``The Secretary of Homeland Security shall monitor 
                the number of daily encounters and, subject to 
                subsection (b) of this section, the suspension and 
                limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this 
                proclamation shall be discontinued at 12:01 a.m. 
                eastern time on the date that is 14 calendar days after 
                the Secretary makes a factual determination that there 
                have been 28 consecutive calendar days of a 7-
                consecutive-calendar-day average of less than 1,500 
                encounters, not including encounters described in 
                subsection 4(a)(iii) of this proclamation.''

                Sec. 2. Revocation of Section 2(c) of Proclamation 
                10773. Section 2(c) of Proclamation 10773 is revoked.

                Sec. 3. 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, 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 provisions to any other persons or circumstances 
                shall not be affected thereby.

                Sec. 4. Effectiveness. The amendments described in 
                sections 1 and 2 of this proclamation shall be 
                effective if and when there is in effect a final

[[Page 80353]]

                rule promulgated by the Secretary of Homeland Security 
                and the Attorney General that amends the IFR entitled 
                Securing the Border, 89 FR 48,710 (June 7, 2024), 
                consistent with the amendments described in sections 1 
                and 2 of this proclamation. If, due to court order, the 
                final rule described in the prior sentence cannot be 
                enforced insofar as it makes changes consistent with 
                the amendment described in section 1 of this 
                proclamation, then the amendment described in section 1 
                of this proclamation will no longer be in effect and 
                section 2(a) of Proclamation 10773 shall continue to 
                apply by its terms. If, due to court order, the final 
                rule described in the first sentence of this section 
                cannot be enforced insofar as it makes changes 
                consistent with the amendment described in section 2 of 
                this proclamation, then the amendment described in 
                section 2 of this proclamation will no longer be in 
                effect and section 2(c) of Proclamation 10773 shall 
                continue to apply by its terms.

                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 
                twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of our 
                Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence 
                of the United States of America the two hundred and 
                forty-ninth.
                <GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-22942
Filed 10-1-24; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P