美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)将在周四晚上的国情咨文(State of the Union)讲话中阐述一系列广泛的问题，但对许多美国人来说，最紧迫的问题之一是如何处理南部边境。
一项调查显示，越来越多的美国人认为移民是美国面临的最重要问题最近的盖洛普调查。这标志着自2019年以来移民首次被列为最重要的问题。
历史上，更广泛的移民政策一直困扰着历届总统政府。近几十年来，国会的不作为使得总统和行政部门的其他成员在处理创纪录数量的寻求在美国生活的移民时选择有限。
由于没有两党达成移民协议，并考虑到最近的尝试为非法入境的年轻人提供了一条获得公民身份的途径，许多人将关注拜登在周四的演讲中可能如何解决梦想家的问题。
拜登在他最近三次重要的国会演讲中都提到了对梦想家的保护或获得公民身份的途径。
一位白宫官员向美国广播公司新闻证实，预计总统将在演讲中提出类似于他最近边境之行所阐述的改革方案来解决移民问题。
预计他不会宣布新的移民行政行动，这位官员表示，他将继续呼吁共和党人通过两党边境安全措施。
“你们有一个拒绝做任何事情的国会，”移民中心副主任比阿特丽斯·洛佩兹告诉美国广播公司新闻。“有许多事情在政府的控制之内，也有许多事情不在政府的控制之内。能够获得资源来投资边境安全——增加那里的能力——做许多国会需要实现的事情——这就是国会。”
作为反对特朗普时代移民政策的主要倡导者，洛佩兹表示，拜登应该利用他的平台强调一系列移民成就，从解除家庭分离到为潜在移民创造新的合法途径。
但是，拜登在移民问题上的胜利可能会被边境非法移民的大量涌入蒙上阴影。
非法越境企图再次上升
在1月份的平静之后，南部边境的非法越境活动又开始增加。据熟悉美国海关和边境保护局内部数据的消息人士透露，美国边境巡逻队上个月逮捕了超过14万名移民，高于1月份的约12.5万人。
数据显示，过去一周，边境巡逻队在南部边境每天逮捕约5230名移民。这一数字高于年初的约3，100份。
更多信息:在参议院边境法案的争论中，以下是该法案将如何改革系统
参议院两党谈判——最近被共和党控制的众议院破坏——达成了一项协议，如果未经授权的过境人数超过5000人，将实施严格的边境控制措施。
这个问题超出了国界
尽管共和党和民主党普遍认为边境安全需要更多资金，但在如何对待申请人道主义保护的人方面存在严重分歧。
问题是美国移民法院积压的案件越来越多，超过330万件。
积压案件反映了美国移民系统存在的更广泛问题——试图进入美国的人数如此之多，美国当局没有资源迅速做出谁将被驱逐出境的决定。关于谁获得庇护的决定通常需要几年时间来裁决。
如果拜登试图进一步限制庇护，他可能会面临更多的法律障碍
美国公民自由联盟去年对政府的庇护限制采取了法律行动。该案件被第九巡回上诉法院驳回，这意味着该政策被允许继续实施。政府和美国公民自由联盟之间的谈判正在进行中，但尚不清楚任何进一步的庇护规则或限制将如何影响这些讨论。
一个更广泛的资源问题正在发挥作用，因为无论一个人从哪里进入该国，法院都支持庇护权。
Immigration, border security standoff backdrop for State of the Union
President Joe Biden is set to address a wide range of issues at his State of the Union address Thursday night, but among the most pressing for many Americans is what to do about the southern border.
A growing share of Americans rank immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S., according to arecent Gallup survey. It marked the first time immigration has been named as the single most important issue since 2019.
Immigration policy more broadly has vexed presidential administrations throughout history. Congressional inaction in recent decades has left the president and the rest of the executive branch with a limited range of options for handling record volumes of migrants seeking a life in the United States.
Without a bipartisan immigration deal and given the closest attempt left out a pathway to citizenship for young people brought to the country illegally, many will watching how Biden might address DREAMers in Thursday's speech.
Biden has mentioned protections or a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers in each of his last three major congressional speeches.
The president is expected to address immigration in his speech by making a case for reform similar to what he laid out on his recent trip to the border, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
He is not expected to announce new executive action on immigration and the official said he will continue to call on Republicans to pass bipartisan border security measures.
"You have a Congress that refuses to get anything done," Immigration Hub Deputy Director Beatriz Lopez told ABC News. "There's a lot of things that are within the administration's control and there's a lot of things that aren't. And being able to acquire the resources to both invest in border security -- to increase capacity there -- to do a lot of things that Congress needs to deliver on -- that's Congress."
As a leading advocate against Trump-era immigration policies, Lopez said Biden should use his platform to highlight a series of immigration accomplishments from unwinding family separations to creating new legal routes for would-be immigrants.
But Biden's immigration wins may be over shadowed by the sheer influx of unauthorized migrants at the border.
Illegal crossing attempts on the rise again
Following a lull in January, illegal crossings of the southern border are back on the rise. The U.S. Border Patrol made more than 140,000 migrant apprehensions last month, up from about 125,000 in January, according to sources familiar with internal Customs and Border Protection data.
Over the past week, the Border Patrol has apprehended migrants about 5,230 times per day along the southern border, according to the data. That's up from about 3,100 at the beginning of the year.
Bipartisan Senate negotiations – recently scuttled by the Republican-controlled House – had produced an agreement that would implement strict border control measures if unauthorized crossing attempts were to exceed the 5,000 mark.
The issue extends beyond the border
While Republicans and Democrats generally agree that more funding is needed for border security, there are sharp divisions over how to treat those applying for humanitarian protection.
At issue is the growing backlog of more than 3.3 million pending cases before the nation's immigration courts.
The backlog speaks to the broader problem with the U.S. immigration system – with so many attempting to enter the U.S. authorities do not have the resources to quickly deliver decisions about who gets deported. Decisions about who is granted asylum often take several years to adjudicate.
Biden could face more legal roadblocks if he tries to restrict asylum further
The ACLU took legal action against the administration's asylum restrictions last year. That case was blocked by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning the policy has been allowed to continue. Negotiations are underway between the government and ACLU but it's unclear how any further asylum rules or restrictions would impact these discussions.
A broader resource issue is at play given the courts have upheld asylum rights regardless of where an individual entered the country.
