President Joe Biden has vehemently denied any blame for the years-long U.S. southern border invasion with claims that Congress, not the president, must act to defend the nation.
“I’ve done all I can do,” Biden said last month on the White House lawn. “Just give me the power.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the same thing two weeks ago. “There is no executive action that the president can take,” she said, to reinforce the border.
But now Politico is reporting that the president does, in fact, recognize the authority at his disposal to address the border crisis. On Wednesday, the paper reported the administration is “considering a string of new executive actions and federal regulations in an effort to curb migration at the U.S. southern border.”
“Among the ideas under discussion include using a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act to bar migrants from seeking asylum in between U.S. ports of entry,” the report read. “The administration is also discussing tying that directive to a trigger — meaning that it would only come into effect after a certain number of illegal crossings took place.”
The president, however, continued to deny blame for the crisis with calls on lawmakers to send legislation. Biden made last month’s plea to Capitol Hill as lawmakers negotiated a bipartisan spending bill that ultimately included just $20 billion for the U.S. border and another $60 billion for war with Russia in Ukraine.
The colossal spending package was swiftly defeated days after its release revealed provisions to codify the border crisis. It showed Biden’s maneuvering for “border security” was really just a failed extortion effort to send more to Ukraine. The upper chamber went on to pass a $95 billion bill with U.S. taxpayer funds for Israel, Kyiv, and Gaza.
Republicans dispute Biden’s claims that the commander-in-chief is powerless to fulfill his oath of office to faithfully execute the nation’s border laws.
“Give me the Border Patrol, give me the people, the judges — give me the people who can stop this and make it work right,” Biden said in January.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson responded on X with a series of steps Biden could take immediately to combat the crisis.
“He’s either lying or misinformed.” Johnson wrote. “Here are just a few authorities at his disposal — if only he would use them.”
For one thing, Johnson suggested, Biden could use presidential authority to restrict entry and mandate detention of foreign lawbreakers.
Lies about presidential powerlessness, however, have become the standard response from Democrats on the border. The number of illegal crossings has approximately doubled under President Biden, with 1.7 million “gotaways” evading capture over the three years he’s been in office. Last week, House Republicans formally impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to keep U.S. borders secure.
“It certainly is a crisis,” Mayorkas said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month, “But fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix it.”
Biden’s allies on Capitol Hill have made the same arguments. New York Rep. Dan Goldman called the House impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas an example of “taking the scalp” for “the MAGA base” to scapegoat blame for a crisis which can “only be addressed by legislation.”
While Democrats continue to say this on TV, Politico reports more executive orders for border action are in the pipeline, indicating the White House believes it can indeed address the border without the need for action from Congress.
