One Democratic senator criticized President Joe Biden and his Democratic colleagues in the Senate for preparing to pass tougher legislation to secure the southern border.

Asked if Democrats should be tougher on immigration, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) said, “I think people ought to be focused more on being smarter than looking tougher.”

Padilla was disappointed in Biden’s recent claim he would “shut down the border” if necessary.

“What’s been negotiated would, if passed into law, be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said last week of the border deal. “It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

“I’m absolutely disappointed” in the president, according to Padilla. He told Politico such a pledge from Biden is “very different” from his campaign promises.

“He knows that Trump-era policies don’t work, that they make the problem worse. … It’s one thing to try to negotiate or consider legislation through the lens of how this president may use it, but we can’t lose sight of … how a future president may abuse it,” he warned.

His advice to Democrats comes as bipartisan Senate negotiators prepare a bill to implement measures to enhance border security, which Biden appears poised to support and sign.

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“We ought to be looking at expanding legal pathways for people to come who are willing to work and match them with employers who need workers,” he suggested, instead of the deal being negotiated.

“It’s important to remind my colleagues and the public it is not unlawful to come seeking asylum,” Padilla said. “It’s not automatically granted. In fact, the minority of people who seek asylum eventually earn asylum and its protections.”