Numerous reports from earlier this week suggest that President Biden is contemplating the use of executive action to tackle the border crisis, following the obstruction of White House-supported border legislation by congressional Republicans earlier this month. This move aligns with what Republicans have been seeking since Biden took over the White House office three years ago.
The Biden administration has consistently criticized Johnson for his refusal to consider the $95.3 billion supplemental spending bill, which had bipartisan support in the Senate. The bill’s progress was significantly hampered by GOP opposition, largely due to Trump’s disapproval of the package that linked aid for Ukraine combined border security measures.
What is President Joe Biden reportedly considering?
According to several reports, Biden is considering using Section 212(f) of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act — the same part President Trump used to stop people from mostly Muslim countries from coming in—to try and control how many people are coming into the U.S. at the southern border. The reports that Biden could change his immigration policy come while he’s trying to get re-elected in November, and dealing with immigration as a big topic for his campaign.
House Speaker Mike Johnson responded to these reports
House Speaker Mike Johnson is evidently upset with President Joe Biden for thinking about changing the immigration rules, something he had previously pushed Biden to consider. He’s calling this potential change just a trick because it’s an election year.
Johnson shared his thoughts on Thursday, criticizing Biden for only now, in 2024, thinking about taking strong actions at the U.S.-Mexico border. This comes after a huge number of migrants have come in through the southern border.
“Now, in an election year, after the president has surrendered the border to cartels and smugglers, after tens of thousands of Americans have tragically lost their lives due to fentanyl poisoning, after countless unaccompanied minors and young people have been subjected to human trafficking, and after millions of illegal aliens have been scattered by the Biden administration throughout our country — the President suddenly seems interested in trying to make a change using the legal authority that he claimed until recently didn’t exist,” Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson believes that Americans have stopped trusting the president and won’t be tricked by these last-minute efforts that don’t really make the border safer. He also thinks people will remember Biden as the president who let these problems happen in the first place, and until now, didn’t use his power to solve them.
The White House immediately responded
The White House fired back at the speaker, criticizing his inconsistent reasons for not supporting laws aimed at making the border more secure. Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the White House, told Newsweek that Johnson seems to be more interested in politics than in the safety of American people. Bates pointed out that for six years, Johnson called for laws to secure the border. However, when there was finally a strong agreement that both parties liked, the House Republicans, influenced by Donald Trump’s opinion that safer policies might hurt his campaign, decided against it.
Mike Johnson says Biden should reinstate the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy
“If these reports are true and the president intends to take action, he can show he’s serious by changing more than asylum policy,” Johnson said. “He should begin by reinstituting the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy and ending his administration’s abuse of the parole system, along with other critical reforms.”
Biden ended the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy in February 2021.
