How will Biden’s new restrictions affect asylum seekers at US border?

Al Jazeera breaks down the latest effort to curb southern border crossings, and what risks they pose.

United States President Joe Biden has unveiled a sweeping executive order restricting asylum claims, expanding controversial efforts to curb the surging number of people crossing the country’s southern border.

That order went into effect on Wednesday. It comes as Biden is expected to face a reckoning on immigration issues in November’s presidential election, where he is set to face Republican challenger and former President Donald Trump.

Biden, who entered office pledging to reverse Trump’s hardline border policies, has said the new order is essential to rebooting the US asylum system.

It gives his administration the authority to stop processing asylum claims if the number of irregular crossings at the US-Mexico border surpasses an average of 2,500 per day for a week.

But migrant rights groups have roundly condemned the president’s proclamation, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) saying the order will stifle the legal right to claim asylum, thus “putting tens of thousands of lives at risk”.