The request, sent in a Thursday letter, comes as his colleagues in the Senate were unable to come to an agreement on border policy changes as a condition for additional Ukraine aid before leaving for a holiday recess.
“While a bipartisan group of Senators has begun extensive negotiations over the past few weeks to try to find a compromise, they have not yet been able to finalize an agreement,” Johnson said in the letter. “Statutory reforms designed to restore operational control at our southern border must be enacted, but the crisis at our southern border has deteriorated to such an extent that significant action can wait no longer. It must start now, and it must start with you.”
“I urge you to immediately take executive actions available to you under existing immigration laws to stem the record tide of illegal immigration,” Johnson said.
The Speaker called for executive actions to “turn back or detain all illegal aliens encountered between ports of entry,” ending the so-called catch-and-release policy; grant parole solely on a case-by-case-basis rather than for entire classes of migrants; reinstate asylum cooperative agreements and negotiate with Mexico to reinstitute the “Remain in Mexico” program; expand the use of expedited removal; and restart construction of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Asked in a press conference on Thursday whether Biden could take any other unilateral action to address the flow of migrants into the country, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — who said she had not seen Johnson’s letter yet — indicated that the president could not take any more unilateral actions, and said that Congress needs to approve more funding.
In a separate statement, White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández turned the blame back on Republicans, saying they had refused to pass measures to adequately fund border security.
Shortly after the letter was reported, the White House announced it was dispatching Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall to Mexico.
The three will meet with the country’s president and his team “to discuss further actions that can be taken together to address current border challenges,” said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
