WASHINGTON- In his bid to save a border deal in Congress that would also unlock money for Ukraine, US President Joe Biden He reiterated Saturday night that he would be willing to close the U.S.-Mexico border if lawmakers would just send him a bill to sign.
Biden — also eager to quell GOP criticism of his handling of migration at the border — said at a rally in South Carolina that would close the border “right now” if Congress approved the proposed deal. The framework has not been formally agreed upon by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and would face an uncertain future in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.
“A bipartisan bill would be good for America, it would help fix our broken immigration system and allow quick access to those who deserve to be here, and Congress has to get it,” Biden said.
He also stated, “It would also give me, as president, emergency authority to close the border until it could be brought back under control. “If that bill were law today, I would close the border right now and fix it quickly.”
The agreement being negotiated in Congress would require the United States to close the border if approximately 5,000 immigrants cross without legal authorization on a given day. Last year, some one-day totals exceeded 10,000.
Migration catastrophe
In a letter released Saturday in response to Biden’s comments, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, insisted that Biden does not need congressional action to close the border and called on him to “take action executives immediately to reverse the catastrophe he has created.”
Immigration remains a top concern for voters in the 2024 election. An AP-NORC poll earlier this month found that those expressing concerns about immigration rose to 35% from 27% last year.
The majority of Republicans, 55%, believe that the government should focus on immigration in 2024, while 22% of Democrats classified immigration as a priority. That represents an increase from 45% and 14%, respectively, in December 2022.
Arrests for unauthorized border crossings from Mexico hit an all-time high in December since monthly figures were released.
The Border Patrol counted 249,785 arrests on the border with Mexico in December, 31% more than the 191,112 in November and 13% more than the 222,018 in December 2022, the previous all-time high.
Source: AP
