After nearly eight million apprehensions at the southern border since taking office, President Joe Biden is finally ready to implement an executive action this week that would crack down on illegal immigration.
But with just five months until the 2024 presidential election, House Speaker Mike Johnson says it’s “too little, too late” and Republicans are calling the move an election stunt.
He also claims that despite plans for just one executive order that could close the border, Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have already taken 64 other actions since January 2021 “to open the border.”
Illegal immigration and the crisis at the southern border remain a top issue for voters in November — and Biden wants to finally take action after years of pressure to crack down.
By some estimates, the number of illegal immigrants in the United States exceeds twenty million. And the number of escapes continues to elude even top immigration officials.
Customs and Border Protection have apprehended more than 7.8 million migrants at the southern border since President Joe Biden took office
The Biden White House repeatedly asserted that Congress should be the entity to impede the record-breaking flow of illegal immigration at the southern border. But now the Democratic president plans to announce an executive order as soon as Tuesday.
The action would represent the most restrictive border policy put forward by Biden and is reminiscent of former President Donald Trump’s policy of blocking migration at the southern border — actions that were challenged by Democrats in federal courts.
Rep. Johnson (R-La.) declined to give Biden any compliments on Sunday for his actions on immigration after three and a half years of distraction and implementation of policies contrary to mitigating migration.
Asked whether Biden deserves credit for finally taking action, the Speaker said: “I don’t… it’s too little too late now.”
“He’s desperately trying to show the American people that he wants to tackle the issue he created,” Johnson told Fox News on Sunday. “We have documented 64 specific actions by President Biden and his secretary [Alejandro Mayorkas] bee [the Department of Homeland Security] took over… over the course of three and a half years, starting on the first day that President Biden [took office]to open the border.”
“They did it deliberately; it has had catastrophic consequences for our country that we will live with for decades to come,” he continued.
Several officials familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that Biden plans to include parts of the failed border deal with the Senate in his executive order. This includes denying entry to migrants up to certain thresholds – such as restricting entry when 4,000 encounters occur per day over the course of a week.
Other Republican lawmakers claim the executive action is a “stunt” and insist Biden is finally taking action because he was forced to face the reality of how important the border and illegal immigration are to voters heading to the polls in November.
“Don’t be fooled by Biden’s latest move on the border, which is nothing more than a political stunt,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wrote to X. “He is trying to appear tough on immigration because he is losing ground in the polls.’
He added, “Remember, he has already admitted more than 10 million illegal aliens, and his new executive order will likely lead to at least 1.5 million additional illegal crossings in the coming year.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also wrote on X, “This is an election stunt that will not distract voters from Joe Biden’s disastrous, failed immigration policies.”
President Joe Biden plans to announce his most restrictive policy at the southern border this week through an executive order
The order could block illegal immigration at the southern border once apprehensions reach a certain threshold per day. Pictured: Texas National Guard members install barbed wire border fencing in El Paso on April 2
The authority the White House expects to use in the executive order comes from Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That law gives presidents leeway in blocking the entry of certain immigrants if doing so would be “harmful” to national interests.
Trump repeatedly leaned on that part of the law to exclude certain groups of immigrants who entered the US illegally.
The White House previously asked Congress to pass new laws to expand Biden’s presidential authority over the border, but a bipartisan border deal failed to materialize earlier this year.
Presidents who use Section 212(f) to restrict migration do not need congressional approval. But Biden has repeatedly said he wants new laws from Congress to regulate the border.
It appears the White House has decided they can go it alone, as Republicans have argued, after the deal failed twice in the Senate.
Johnson argued Sunday that Biden is only taking initiative on the border issue because recent polls show immigration is of paramount importance to Americans.
“Now he wants to issue some kind of executive order, I think to show, ‘Oh, he really cares about the issue.’ The only reason he’s doing that is because the polls say this is the biggest problem in America,” Johnson told Fox News.