On Wednesday, reports surfaced that President Joe Biden is considering using executive powers to curb the tide of illegal immigrants pouring over the U.S. southern border. In response, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others are pointing out that the president appears to be engaging in “election year gimmicks” by only now — over three years into his presidency — showing willingness to tighten the border after millions of illegal crossings have already occurred.
Observers have noted that the amount of immigrants who have illegally crossed the border during Biden’s term so far (according to Department of Homeland Security numbers) is 7.2 million — roughly equal to two years worth of U.S. births (with the actual number of illegal crossings likely far higher).
The Biden administration is reportedly looking at “a series of policy options” to deal with the border crisis, but so far officials have been evasive about any possible final decisions. One action under consideration, which former President Donald Trump utilized, appears to be invoking Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which would allow the president to “‘suspend the entry’ of foreigners when it is determined their arrival is not in the best interest of the country.”
Sources told CBS News that Biden’s executive actions dealing with the border “could be announced within the next two weeks.”
The news comes as polls show that American voters rank the border crisis as their top issue of concern, outpacing inflation, the economy and jobs, crime, and other issues.
On Thursday, Speaker Johnson released a statement on X in response to Biden’s reported reconsideration of executive powers to secure the southern border.
“House Republicans have been sounding the alarm about the catastrophic effects of President Biden’s open border policies since he began his term,” he wrote. “Last year, I sent a letter to the President to demand he take immediate executive action. He has thus far ignored my demands, and the pleas from big city mayors, border state governors, and the American people.”
Johnson continued, “Now, in an election year, after the president has surrendered the border to cartels and smugglers, after tens of thousands of Americans have tragically lost their lives due to fentanyl poisoning, after countless unaccompanied minors and young people have been subjected to human trafficking, and after millions of illegal aliens have been scattered by the Biden administration throughout our country — the President suddenly seems interested in trying to make a change using the legal authority that he claimed until recently didn’t exist.”
Approximately 200,000 Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses during Biden’s term. In addition, it was reported last March that “[h]uman trafficking increased massively in the last fiscal year. Arrests rose 50%; convictions soared by 80%. The vast majority, 72%, of those trafficked in the U.S. are immigrants.” A study conducted by the Coalition Against Trafficking In Women “estimated that 60% of unaccompanied alien children, or UACs, are caught by cartels and exploited through child pornography and drug trafficking.”
“Americans have lost faith in this President and won’t be fooled by election year gimmicks that don’t actually secure the border,” Johnson added. “Nor will they forget that the President created this catastrophe and, until now, has refused to use his executive power to fix it.”
In comments to The Washington Stand, Quena González, senior director of Government Affairs at Family Research Council, remarked, “What do you call a president who insists for months that his hands are tied and that, absent congressional action, there’s nothing he can do to secure the border, only to reverse himself? Lawless. What do you call a president who reverses himself on securing the border only when it threatens his reelection chances? ‘Desperate’ comes to mind. So does ‘manipulative.’”
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
