Will President Joe Biden use his executive power to secure the border? No. Such is what the president told reporters on Monday, March 11, when asked if he would use his power as the executive to defend the US-Mexico border and limit the inflow of illegal immigrants into the United States, a particularly pressing problem given that record numbers of migrants are flowing into the country.
President Biden’s comments on the matter came when Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and Biden was approached by reporters who wanted to know about his border policy, how he will handle the Israel situation, and if he will deploy more troops to the Polish-Russia border. He remained evasive.
One reporter asking him about the border situation, posing the question, “Mr. President, when is a border executive action coming? An executive action on the border?” Biden, responding, indicated that he would not use his executive power and wants Congress to handle it. He said, “I’m counting on the border action happening by itself, the — passing it.”
The reporter then noted that Congress is incapable of reaching an agreement satisfactory to both parties right now, saying, “But Congress can’t come to an agreement.” Biden responded by saying, “Well, they haven’t —”
He was cut off by the reporter, who asked, “How can —” Biden then concluded his first statement, saying, “— yet.” The reporter finished the question, saying, “you help them?” meaning, how can Biden help Congress reach an agreement? Biden, reiterating his original response, said, “They haven’t yet.” He then remained vague on detail, saying, “I’m — I’m helping them.”
That then led to Biden being asked about sending more American troops to the Poland-Russia border. The reporter asked, “On Poland, Mr. President. Would you support increasing U.S. troops at the Polish border?” Biden, in response, said, “There — there’s no need for more troops at the Pol- — there’s no need for more troops at the Polish border.”
Biden continued, “But I’m meeting — I’m meeting with the Prime Mini- — I’m meeting with the Polish leader tomor- —” He then asked, “Is it tomorrow?” Biden was then asked, “Do you know what you might talk about with him tomorrow?” Responding, he said, “Yeah, but I’ll talk to him about it. Okay?”
Watch Biden here:
White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez spoke about executive power to handle the border crisis in late February, saying that the Lankford-Schumer border deal should be the basis for border security. He said, “The Administration spent months negotiating in good faith to deliver the toughest and fairest bipartisan border security bill in decades because we need Congress to make significant policy reforms and to provide additional funding to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system.”
Hernandez continued, saying that the responsibility lies with Congress to institute the strongest border policies, saying, “No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected. We continue to call on Speaker Johnson and House Republicans to pass the bipartisan deal to secure the border.”
"*" indicates required fields