House Speaker Mike Johnson called on US President Joe Biden to unilaterally take action on immigration reform instead of waiting for congressional intervention, Ednews informs via Politico.
“President Biden falsely claimed yesterday he needs Congress to pass a new law to allow him to close the southern border, but he knows that is untrue,” the GOP speaker wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As I explained to him in a letter late last year, and have specifically reiterated to him on multiple occasions since, he can and must take executive action immediately to reverse the catastrophe he has created.”
Johnson and other conservatives criticize the emerging immigration deal for still allowing too many border crossings; he said in his statement it “would expressly allow as many as 150,000 illegal crossings each month.” Yet the bill’s advocates say that the actual amount of illegal crossings would be much lower and that the proposal does not greenlight such a number.
The Department of Homeland Security would be required to shut down illegal crossings if the daily average of encounters surpasses 5,000 migrants or if a one-day total surpasses 8,500. DHS would have the authority to shut the border down at 4,000 encounters per day, however, and Biden has signaled he would aggressively use that authority.