House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday declined to give the Biden administration credit for acting on the U.S. southern border ahead of his expected executive order to clamp down on illegal immigration.
Biden is reportedly expected to sign an executive order this week that will address immigration and border security amid criticism from both parties over his handling of the situation at the border, NewsNation reported last week, citing a border community leader who requested anonymity. NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
When asked on “Fox News Sunday,” if Biden should receive credit for making moves for border security after months of requests from Johnson, Johnson said, “I don’t…it’s too little too late now.”
“He’s trying to desperately show the American people that he wants to address the issue that he himself created,” Johnson continued. “We documented 64 specific actions that President Biden and Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas at DHS [Department of Homeland Security] took over…the course of three and a half years, beginning on the first day that President Biden, to open the border. They did it intentionally, it’s had catastrophic effects upon our country that we’ll be living with for decades to come.”
Johnson and House Republicans have repeatedly lamented the Biden administration’s border policies, arguing they have contributed to the mass influx of migrants into the U.S. and the country’s fentanyl spread. In January, Johnson’s office released a list of 64 instances it claimed showed the Biden administration “undermining border security policy and encouraging illegal immigration.”
The reported executive order would come after months of urging from Johnson in the wake of repeated border legislation that has failed to move forward through Congress.
The Associated Press reported last week the White House is finalizing plans for the order that would shut off asylum requests and automatically deny entrance to migrants once the number of people encountered by American border officials exceeded a new daily threshold. Biden could sign the executive order as early as Tuesday, the news wire added, citing four people familiar with the matter.
Johnson argued that Biden is only taking initiative on the issue due to recent polls that suggest that immigration is of top concern for Americans.
“And now he wants to issue some sort of executive order, I guess to show that, oh he really does care about the issue. The only reason he’s doing that is because the polls say that it’s the biggest issue in America,” Johnson said.
“And the first question that comes up in almost every public forum, is what about that open border and why in the world would President Biden allow it? He did more than allow it, he engineered it and everybody knows that,” he added.
The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.
