President Biden announced Tuesday an immediate suspension on entry for certain Nicaraguan officials into the US, in a direct response to the increasing authoritarianism in Nicaragua since the November elections that saw President Daniel Ortega win a fourth term amidst reports of repressive and antidemocratic behavior.
President Biden’s presidential proclamation denounced Ortega’s actions, calling them “repressive and abusive”, and condemned recent events that included a crackdown on opposition leaders, civil society leaders, and journalists. Furthermore, it accused the Ortega government of carrying out politically motivated arrests and detentions of individuals exercising alternative political views, citing reports of “intolerable” conditions in prison. This marks the latest US effort to put pressure on the Nicaraguan government, as earlier this month President Biden signed the RENACER Act, which authorized a round of new sanctions against the Ortega regime.
The US president is empowered by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to determine whether the entry into the US of certain immigrant or non-immigrant noncitizens is detrimental to the national interest, and can subsequently bar them from entering the country based on that finding. The 2017 Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Hawaii recently reaffirmed the executive’s broad authority on entry procedure, holding that the INA largely defers to the president’s discretion on border entry when matters of national security are concerned.
Among the classes of individuals barred from entry by President Biden’s Tuesday proclamation are members of the national Government of Nicaragua, local officials who aided and abetted in the violation of Nicaraguans’ electoral and protest rights, officials of the security services, collaborating members of the Nicaraguan government ministries, and high-level members of the judiciary. The proclamation does allow for entry if the Secretary of State has determined that the individual has since stopped their authoritarian activities and taken concrete steps to restore democracy in Nicaragua.
The entry suspension takes place immediately throughout the US and will remain in effect until terminated by the president.
