Mike Johnson belittles possible Biden executive action on immigration
"He's trying to desperately show the American people somehow that he wants to address the issue that he himself created," the House Speaker said.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that executive action by President Joe Biden on immigration would be "too little, too late."
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," the Louisiana Republican said of Biden: "He's trying to desperately show the American people somehow that he wants to address the issue that he himself created."
Though border crossings have declined in recent months, Biden is expected to sign an executive order in the coming days designed to improve processes now in use on the southern border. One continuing issue is that anyone can show up at the border and ask for asylum, launching an official process that generally sees them released into the United States to await verification and adjudication.
Speaking to host Shannon Bream, Johnson said Sunday of the president: "The only reason he's doing that is because the polls say that it's the biggest issue in America. Every state's a border state," offering a phrase that has been widely used by Republicans on the 2024 campaign trail.
Repeated efforts to craft and pass legislation to adjust the asylum system and other immigration policies have consistently bogged down in recent years, including during Johnson's tenure as speaker. Earlier this year, a Senate plan crafted by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) crashed and burned when former President Donald Trump expressed vehement opposition to it.
Johnson was formerly an advocate for the president to issue executive orders to curb immigration, saying that existing laws gave Biden the authority to do so.
In December 2023, Johnson sent a letter to Biden urging him to take executive actions to slow the flow of migrants. "I urge you to immediately take executive actions available to you under existing laws to step the record tide of illegal immigration," he wrote in the letter dated Dec. 21.
But in February, Johnson mocked possible executive action from Biden as an election-year gimmick. “The president suddenly seems interested in trying to make a change using the legal authority that he claimed until recently didn’t exist,” Johnson said at the time.
