Speaker Johnson says Biden does not need Congress to pass law to secure border

House Speaker Mike Johnson doubled down on his pressure campaign against President Biden, saying that the White House does not need congressional action to secure the southern border. 

Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, reiterated on Saturday that the president could make substantive policy changes to the U.S./Mexico border with the stroke of a pen after Mr. Biden vowed on Friday to toughen up on border security, but only if Congress gives him new tools to do so. 

“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,” Mr. Johnson said. 

He continued, “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.”

This comes as new details of the ongoing negotiations to tie border security policy to Mr. Biden’s $110 billion aid request for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, indicated that a border deal would likely do little to quell the surge of illegal migrants crossing the southern border. 

Mr. Johnson noted that the Senate’s pending proposal could allow as many as 150,000 illegal crossings each month, or 1.8 million per year, before any of the proposed border shutdown authorities would be triggered. 

“At that point, America will have already been surrendered,” he said.

Mr. Johnson and his conference have repeatedly demanded that any border package includes the Secure the Border Act, or H.R. 2, which would reinstate former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, end the Biden administration’s asylum proposals and cease catch-and-release policies. 

However, it is unlikely the legislation will go that far. Mr. Johnson has already signaled that unless that trio of policies are included, the package would be “dead on arrival.”