President Joe Biden has been searching for the “right language” to take executive action on the border crisis after continuously blaming Republicans, according to Axios.
Biden has been considering for several months using executive action to help ease the crisis at the southern border, according to Axios. If executed, Biden would be relying on the same section of the federal code, known as 212(f), that Trump used for his “Muslim ban” and to address the U.S.-Mexico border, the outlet reported. The president has reportedly been considering how to take such an action without facing legal implications. (RELATED: White House Responds To Dramatic Border Video: It’s Trump’s Fault)
A Biden administration official reportedly called the potential action the “nuclear option” in a statement to Axios.
As the president’s team reportedly weighs taking action on the border, Axios reported that such a move is expected to come within the next few weeks.
“Congress should do its job and it hasn’t,” a White House spokesperson told Axios. “No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected.”
President Joe Biden listens to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer during a presentation about immigration and border security at the Brownsville Station on February 29, 2024 in Olmito, Texas. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Getty Images)
The president said during an April 9 interview with Univision that he was examining whether he had the “power” to close the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Have you made a final decision on taking executive order in terms of what you want to do at the border, that includes the power to shut down the border, as it was suggested?” the Univision interviewer asked.
“Well I suggested that,” Biden responded. “We’re examining whether or not I have that power. I would have that power under the legislation.”
“When the border has over five, 5000 people a day trying to cross the border because you can’t manage it, slow it up. There’s no, there’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we’re trying to work that, work through that right now,” Biden continued.
The president and his administration have continued to maintain that Republicans are to blame for the border crisis because they have failed to pass a supplemental spending package that would have provided aid to Ukraine, Israel and the southern border.
“House Republicans have gotten in the way. The speaker has gotten in the way. And so we want to deal with this issue. This is an issue that the majority of Americans care about. House Republicans, the speaker, got in the way. The question really is for the speaker: what changed? Speaker Johnson, what’s changed?” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a February press briefing.