President Biden promises to use executive action to turn back migrants seeking to enter the United States at the southern border, insisting in an interview aired Tuesday that he is unsure whether he has executive authority. I refused.
In February, with an expected surge in illegal border crossers, the 81-year-old Biden considered drastic administrative measures to tighten asylum standards and close the border if the number of illegal border crossers exceeds a certain threshold. It was reported that this was done, but it was never implemented.
“Well, I’ve proposed that,” Biden told Univision’s Enrique Acevedo when asked about possible executive orders on immigration and border security.
“I’m considering whether I have the power to do so,” he added.
The president said he “has the authority” to close the border under the ill-fated Senate bipartisan border agreement that several Republicans strongly opposed earlier this year.
“When you have more than 5,000 people trying to cross the border a day…you can’t control it. You have to slow it down,” Biden said, explaining the importance of having mechanisms at our disposal.
“Without a law, there’s no guarantee that I have that power on my own. And some people say I should try. And if I’m shut down by the court, I’m not shut down by the court.” But we’re working on it and trying to get through it now,” he said of the current state of potential executive action.
politiko reported last month White House puts off potential executive action on immigration, citing “less active” media coverage of the migrant crisis and encounters with migrants down from levels seen late last year He claimed to have done so.
Since Biden took office in 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have encountered more than 7 million migrants along the southern border, including 96 this year, according to CBP data. This includes 1,537 people.
CBP reported 189,922 attempted crossings in February, which exceeds the 166,010 encounters recorded in February in 2022 and the 156,000 attempted crossings in the same month last year. It’s a number.
Nearly 302,000 crossing attempts were made in December 2023, the highest monthly total ever.
