Elsewhere, Democrats are frustrated by Biden’s border crackdown. In Mass., Healey ‘strongly’ supports it. – The Boston Globe

On Tuesday, Biden issued an executive order that would deny asylum to most migrants when illegal border crossings exceed 2,500 a day for a week. Daily figures are higher than that now, which means the order can go into effect right away. The sweeping restrictions come on the heels of two failed efforts in Congress this year to pass a bipartisan immigration overhaul.

Some critics noted that Biden’s decision shared strong similarities to former president Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy on border crossings that resulted in the detention of thousands of migrants, with small children being separated from their parents and held in federal facilities. The practice was blocked by federal courts and condemned by Democrats, including Healey in 2018 when she was Massachusetts attorney general and called the separation of families “inhumane and immoral.”

While Biden’s policy relies on the same authority that the Trump administration invoked to deny asylum to those who crossed between ports of entry, the Biden restrictions include exceptions for unaccompanied children and trafficking victims, which the Trump-era limits did not.

Federal officials have tallied about 2 million illegal crossings per year along the southern border since 2021, an all-time high. Migrants, many fleeing poverty, violence, or political unrest in their home countries, typically surrender to US border agents as soon as they cross over, kicking off the asylum process.

Under US law, immigrants are eligible for asylum if they can prove they were being persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or their political opinions.

Healey, a super-surrogate for Biden’s reelection campaign, had reserved her criticism for Congress over its failure to pass a bipartisan immigration bill. Her response exemplifies the political bind the Democratic governor is in: the leader of a deep-blue state with a unique right-to-shelter law who also serves a role as one of Biden’s most high-profile surrogates.

Political observers say Healey’s embrace of Biden’s action reflects her calculation to support the president as he tries to navigate dangerous political waters on a dominant issue in his reelection bid. It also reflects Healey’s own political calculus on an issue that has amounted to a political hot potato, even in a liberal-leaning state.

“The difficulty she [Healey] faces is reconciling our ideals with the current circumstances. That is very, very difficult,” said longtime Democratic consultant Jay Cincotti. “That kind of challenge is nothing new for any elected leader. The job of an elected official is to strike this balance.”

The contrast between Healey and other leading Massachusetts Democrats on Tuesday was stark.

“With all due respect, Mr. President, you should not be unearthing policies of the last administration,” declared Pressley, a Democrat from Boston and a leading progressive voice in Washington, at a news conference with immigrants’ rights advocates, organized to condemn Biden’s executive action. She said Biden’s choice “would gut the asylum process, deny immigrants their due process, and put vulnerable families back in harm’s way.”

In a separate statement, Markey urged Biden to “change course.”

Jeff Thielman, who works to resettle thousands of immigrants as chief executive of the International Institute of New England, criticized the new policy on multiple fronts. He said it not only fails to send money and assistance to states like Massachusetts that shelter migrants and provide legal aid and other assistance, it also hurts recent immigrants who hope to be reunited with family members they left and are likewise trying to escape persecution, danger, and poverty.

“That is heart-wrenching, and that is worrisome,” Thielman said. “The policy sends the wrong message to the world.”

Biden’s announcement was striking to new arrivals in the Boston area, including Oseas Macu, a 22-year-old from Guatemala who crossed the border into Texas in February. He said the process was difficult enough, “even though it was supposedly open.”

Macu said Massachusetts locals hardly seem to understand the dangers that drive migrants away from home.

”Some people, they now won’t be able to go back to their home,” Macu said in Spanish through an interpreter at Boston’s immigration court. “A lot of people might lose their life.”

The ACLU of Massachusetts’ executive director, Carol Rose, called the move “a cruel betrayal,” and Alianza Americas, a network of organizations led by immigrants — including many in Massachusetts — compared the policy to the Trump-era policies, which they described as “racist and inhumane.”

With political, economic, and environmental instability rocking Venezuela, Haiti, Central America, and Ukraine, Massachusetts — and the country as a whole — has seen a growing number of arrivals. In November 2022, a judge struck down Title 42, which was a public health policy that allowed asylum seekers to be expelled without a hearing. As a result, immigration court backlogs spiked.

In Massachusetts, the backlog has swelled to more than 160,000 — the seventh-largest in the nation. The state’s emergency shelter system, which guarantees food and shelter for homeless and migrant families or pregnant people, hit a self-imposed cap of 7,500 families months ago. Nearly 800 families are on a wait list, sleeping in temporary overflow shelter sites, and the trend shows no sign of slowing.

While a recent University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB poll shows voters don’t hold Healey directly responsible for the migrant crisis, the state is still on the hook to pay for it, which carries inherent political risk for the chief executive. Healey’s office projects it will cost $915 million to run the emergency shelter system, which houses migrant and homeless families for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Like Healey, Biden is under political pressure, including from inside his own party, to address the influx of migrants into the country, a top concern of voters ahead of the presidential election.

The immigration surge during his term surpassed record levels and stands out as one of his largest political liabilities.

It remains a top concern of voters in Massachusetts, too. The state’s migrant and shelter crisis has engulfed Healey’s first term and strained resources across the state.

When asked how she squares her support for Biden’s proposal, Healey said “You’ve got to look at the order in its entirety,” and pointed out some of its other provisions, such as installing 100 more inspection machines to screen for fentanyl at the border.

She did underscore, as many critics have, that it doesn’t include a funding mechanism to help states sheltering large migrant populations.

“I continue to call on Congress to act to give us funding because states are having to bear the burden,” she said.

Globe correspondents Daniel Kool and Charlotte Ehrlich contributed to this report.

Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.