House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) claimed on Feb. 2 that President Joe Biden’s staff is restricting the president from shutting down the southern border.
Mr. Johnson lamented that President Biden would not use his executive powers to address the crisis at the border.
“He knows that he has the authority. We’ve documented it for him. I’ve read to him the law myself, to the president. Read him the provisions of the law and said, ‘Mr. President, please take action,’” said Mr. Johnson on Fox Business.
“I don’t think he’s allowed to do it. I’m not sure Joe Biden is actually making these decisions,“ he continued. ”I think it’s staff around him and they’re pushing him to hold the … or to keep the border open.”
Mr. Johnson did not provide proof to back up his claim about Mr. Biden’s staff holding him back from securing the border.
His comments come as Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced on Feb. 2 that a bipartisan border deal will be publicized over the weekend. This agreement is part of a supplemental funding bill that would also include assistance for Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific.
However, the supplemental funding bill is expected to be dead on arrival in the GOP-controlled House as Republicans, including Mr. Johnson, have said no new legislation is needed for President Biden to secure the border.
There have been 785,422 illegal immigrant encounters at the southwest border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the 2024 fiscal year, which started in October 2023, according to the agency.
According to CBP, there were almost 2.48 million encounters in the previous fiscal year, an increase of 96,725 from fiscal year 2022.
President Biden has said he'd sign into law a bipartisan border deal.
“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,” he said in a Jan. 26 statement.
“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.”
The deal would reportedly permit the president to close ports of entry if illegal crossings reach a certain threshold.
On Jan. 29, Mr. Johnson made clear where House Republicans will draw the line on any agreement dealing with the border: allowing illegal crossings.
“Any border ’shutdown' authority that allows even one illegal crossing is a non-starter. Thousands each day is outrageous. The number must be zero,” Mr. Johnson wrote on X on Jan. 29.
President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, has called for Republicans to reject the upcoming proposal.
“A border bill is not necessary to stop the millions of people, many from jails and mental institutions located all over the world, that are pouring into our country.
‘Catastrophe’
Mr. Johnson’s remarks on Fox Business come one day after he gave his first speech on the House floor as second-in-line to the presidency.“We have a catastrophe at our southern border. It is because the border has been deliberately opened wide that we see the terrific horrors that are taking place across our country right now.”
Since he took up the gavel, Mr. Johnson noted, more than 700,000 illegal immigrants have entered the United States.
The speaker lamented that public facilities nationwide, including schools, have been used to house illegal immigrants. As an example, he offered James Madison High School, where arrivals were housed temporarily due to inclement weather earlier this month.
Mr. Johnson, who led a congressional GOP delegation to the southern border earlier this month, also sounded the alarm on the effects of the border crisis, including drug and human trafficking.
He blasted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his lack of response to the border.
“It’s his responsibility to prevent these harmful drugs from flowing into our country and to secure that border,” said Mr. Johnson.
“And he’s done nothing of the sort. As we’ve heard from border patrol agents, he’s doing exactly the opposite. He’s handicapping law enforcement. He’s limiting their ability to catch narcotics like fentanyl. He’s making it virtually impossible.”
The House Homeland Security Committee passed two articles of impeachment in the early hours of Jan. 31. Mr. Johnson commended the effort as “very important work for our country.” He announced that the House will vote to impeach Mr. Mayorkas “swiftly” as doing so is “long overdue.” Mr. Johnson did not give a specific timeline, but it is expected that the vote will be next week.
