Mike Johnson urges Biden to take action on southern border as Senate negotiations drag on
December 21, 2023 02:05 PM
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is urging President Joe Biden to take executive action to address the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border, pressing him to reinstate a slew of Trump-era policies as border negotiations in the Senate are ongoing.
In a letter sent to the president on Thursday and obtained by the Washington Examiner, Johnson urged Biden to reinstate previous asylum policies such as the Remain in Mexico program, which was implemented under former President Donald Trump and forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were pending.
The speaker is also pushing Biden to expedite the removal of illegal immigrants “so that aliens are screened and immediately removed if they cannot demonstrate asylum eligibility,” the letter states.
“The wide-open border has caused unspeakable human tragedy for migrants and certainly for our own citizens,” Johnson wrote. “All of this is the direct result of your administration’s policies.”
As part of his plea for immediate action, Johnson cited a record 2.48 million illegal immigrants who were encountered by Customs and Border Patrol in the fiscal year 2023, including 670,000 so-called “got-a-ways,” referring to those who have entered the country illegally but have not been apprehended by border agents. In response, Johnson urged Biden to reimplement a number of other Trump-era policies, such as resuming construction of the border wall and ending “catch-and-release” policies that replaced “Remain in Mexico.”
The request comes after the Senate adjourned for its holiday recess without an agreement on a border framework, punting a vote on the matter until lawmakers return in the new year. Senate and White House negotiators continued to meet this week with hopes of reaching a deal on Ukraine funding that would include border policy changes, and negotiations are expected to continue over Zoom calls over the break until a framework is reached.
Republicans have maintained they will not support additional aid to Ukraine unless there are substantial policy reforms attached to it, with many faulting Senate Democrats for failing to act on the House GOP-led border package that passed earlier this year.
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“We passed H.R. 2 more than six months ago, but Senate Democrats have refused to act on it. While a bipartisan group of Senators has begun extensive negotiations over the past few weeks to try to find a compromise, they have not yet been able to finalize an agreement,” Johnson wrote. “Statutory reforms designed to restore operational control at our southern border must be enacted, but the crisis at our southern border has deteriorated to such an extent that significant action can wait no longer. It must start now, and it must start with you.”
It’s unlikely the Democratic-led Senate would pass the House GOP’s border bill without significant changes, and even if it did, Biden has previously threatened to veto the legislation should it reach his desk. It’s not entirely clear what action Biden will take in response to Johnson’s letter, and a spokesperson for the White House has not yet responded to a request for comment by the Washington Examiner.