President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he has exhausted all his options to solve the border crisis, but needs “the power” to further address the situation.
“Have you done everything you can do with executive authority [on the border]?” a reporter asked Biden as he walked out to Marine One on the South Lawn.
“I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power. 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 responded.
“Have you done everything you can do with executive authority [on the border]?”
BIDEN: “I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power…! Give me the border patrol! Give me the people! The judges! Give me the people who can stop this and make it work right!” pic.twitter.com/8VKTx4cpHB
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 30, 2024
Congressional leaders and the White House have continued to negotiate border initiatives in recent weeks. The debates have caused Biden’s supplemental funding package, which would allocate funds to Ukraine, Israel and the southern border crisis, to stall.
Biden introduced the supplemental package after Hamas launched a terrorist attack Oct. 7 on Israel, murdering, kidnapping and raping about 1,400 Israeli civilians. The package would give more than $61 billion to Ukraine, $14.3 billion to Israel and $13.6 billion to the nation’s border crisis.
The southern border is experiencing an influx in migrants; U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded record-high numbers of migrant encounters in December 2023. CBP encountered more than 300,000 migrants during December 2023, the highest month on record. (RELATED: Border Agents Released More Than 440,000 Illegal Migrants In Just Three Months)
When pressed on the growing crisis at the country’s southern border, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has consistently put pressure on Congress to solve the issue by adopting Biden’s day-one immigration plan.
“Let me just say, first of all, this is why the president is having negotiations with senators, Republicans and Democrats, for the past couple of weeks to deal with what’s going on as it relates to border security,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during a Jan. 22 press conference. “This is why the president on day one put forward a comprehensive immigration plan that for more than three years now Congress didn’t do anything about, but he’s appreciative that we’re having these conversations in the Senate.”
Karine Jean-Pierre claims Biden has taken the border “seriously” since “the first day of his administration.”
In reality, Joe Biden took 94 executive actions in his first 100 days to decimate border security, fueling the current crisis. pic.twitter.com/G9uDbkmjds
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 29, 2024
Critics have repeatedly pointed to Biden’s first day in office for the worsening crisis at the southern border. Biden reversed several of former President Donald Trump administration’s border policies Jan. 20, 202, signing a series of executive orders. The executive orders halted the construction of the border wall and revoked the previous president’s deportation orders.