House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) urged President Joe Biden to take executive action to secure the southern border during a Wednesday phone call as government spending negotiations drag on.
Johnson reiterated points he made in a letter he sent to the president last month to reinstate previous asylum policies such as the Trump-era Remain in Mexico program. The conversation was the first since Johnson sent that request to the White House, and it comes as talks continue in the Senate to finalize a deal that implements border policy changes while also approving additional military aid to Ukraine.
“The Speaker strongly encouraged the President to use his executive authority to secure the southern border and reiterated the contents of his letter to the President dated December 21, 2023,” Raj Shah, a spokesman for the speaker’s office, said in a statement.
In that letter, Johnson cited a record 2.48 million illegal immigrants who were Customs and Border Protection encountered in fiscal 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 phone call also comes amid pushback from House conservatives threatening to withhold their support on must-pass spending legislation unless substantial policy changes are made at the southern border, putting Johnson in a time crunch just nine days before the government is set to enter a partial shutdown.
The White House confirmed that the call took place but did not offer a readout of the substance of the conversation. Biden previously has said he wants to find a border compromise with lawmakers to unlock additional aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Negotiations have been ongoing in the Senate to finalize a border deal in exchange for the additional foreign aid, although lawmakers have said legislative text may not be ready until next week.
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“I’m done,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on Wednesday. “I’m not funding it, I’m not voting for it. If we can’t keep the security of this country front and center stage, we’ve lost our country. I’m not doing it.”
Lawmakers have until Jan. 19 to pass the first batch of appropriations bills, after which a slew of federal agencies will lapse in funding, causing a partial government shutdown. The remainder of the spending bills expire on Feb. 2.