House Speaker Mike Johnson stated on Sunday that if President Joe Biden were to take executive action on immigration, it would be considered insufficient and tardy.
During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” the Louisiana Republican criticized Biden by saying, “He is making a desperate attempt to convince the American people that he wants to solve a problem that he caused.”
Border crossings have decreased recently, but Biden is expected to sign an executive order soon to make improvements to the current processes used at the southern border. An ongoing problem is that anyone can arrive at the border and request asylum. This starts a formal process where they are usually released into the United States while they wait for their asylum claim to be verified and decided upon.
During an interview with host Shannon Bream, Johnson explained on Sunday that the president is only taking action on this matter because the polls indicate that it is the most important issue in America. “Every state is a border state,” is a phrase that Republicans have been using a lot during the 2024 campaign.
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In recent years, there have been multiple attempts to create and pass laws to change the asylum system and other immigration policies. However, these efforts have consistently faced difficulties and delays, including during Johnson’s time as speaker. In the past year, a plan created by Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) failed when former President Donald Trump strongly opposed it.
Johnson used to support the president’s use of executive orders to limit immigration. He believed that the current laws already gave Biden the power to take such actions.
In December 2023, Johnson wrote a letter to Biden asking him to use his power as president to take actions that would reduce the number of migrants coming into the country. “I strongly encourage you to use the powers you have as president to take action and reduce the increasing number of illegal immigrants,” he wrote in the letter dated December 21st.
In February, Johnson criticized Biden’s potential use of executive action as a political tactic during an election year. “The president now appears to be interested in making a change using the legal authority that he previously denied existed,” Johnson said at the time.
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