House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday declined to give the Biden administration credit for acting on the U.S. southern border ahead of his expected executive order to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Biden is reportedly expected to sign an executive order this week that will address immigration and border security amid criticism from both parties over his handling of the situation at the border, NewsNation reported last week, citing a border community leader who requested anonymity. NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
When asked on “Fox News Sunday” if Biden should receive credit for making moves on border security after months of requests from Johnson, the Speaker said, “I don’t … it’s too little too late now.”
“He’s trying to desperately show the American people that he wants to address the issue that he himself created,” Johnson continued. “We documented 64 specific actions that President Biden and Secretary [Alejandro Mayorkas] at [the Department of Homeland Security] took over … the course of three and a half years, beginning on the first day that President Biden [took office], to open the border. They did it intentionally; it’s had catastrophic effects upon our country that we’ll be living with for decades to come.”
Johnson and House Republicans have repeatedly lamented the Biden administration’s border policies, arguing they have contributed to the mass influx of migrants into the U.S. and the country’s fentanyl spread. In January, Johnson’s office released a list of 64 instances it claimed showed the Biden administration “undermining border security policy and encouraging illegal immigration.”
The reported executive order would come after months of urging from Johnson in the wake of repeated attempts to move border legislation through Congress.
The Associated Press reported last week the White House is finalizing plans for the order that would shut off asylum requests and automatically deny entrance to migrants once the number of people encountered by American border officials exceeded a new daily threshold. Biden could sign the executive order as early as Tuesday, the news wire added, citing four people familiar with the matter.
White House officials did not confirm the expected executive order, though a spokesperson noted to The Hill, “As we have said before, the Administration continues to explore a series of policy options and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system.”
Johnson argued that Biden is only taking initiative on the issue due to recent polls that suggest immigration is of top concern for Americans.
“And now he wants to issue some sort of executive order, I guess to show that, ‘Oh he really does care about the issue.’ The only reason he’s doing that is because the polls say that it’s the biggest issue in America,” Johnson said.
“And the first question that comes up in almost every public forum is, ‘What about that open border and why in the world would President Biden allow it?’ He did more than allow it, he engineered it, and everybody knows that,” he added.
A White House spokesperson slammed Congressional Republicans, arguing they do not “care about securing the border or fixing America’s broken immigration system.”
“If they did, they would have voted for the toughest border enforcement in history. Instead, they put partisan politics ahead of our country’s national security,” the spokesperson said.
“While Congressional Republicans chose to stand in the way of additional border enforcement, President Biden will not stop fighting to deliver the resources that border and immigration personnel need to secure our border.”
Updated at 2:15 pm.