Speaker Johnson Asks Biden to Use Executive Action in Border Crisis

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R) recently wrote a letter to President Joe Biden (D) asking him to use executive action to intervene in the border crisis.

The House Speaker called for the Biden administration to use several strict measures from the Trump administration. The policies ranged from building border walls to reimplementing the Remain in Mexico program.

Speaker Johnson called for a swift “removal so that aliens are screened and immediately removed if they cannot demonstrate asylum eligibility.”

Despite the policies receiving several criticisms for their tactics, Texas Representative Troy Nehls (R) pushed for Trump-era policies to return.

When asked about the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy, the Texas representative responded detailing his desire to return to the controversial and highly criticized policy.

“We need to go back to that. Oh, we need to go back to that. The MAGA protection protocols, we need to go to that. Maybe that’s something that we should put in there when we start negotiating this one…when we get back. That remain in Mexico will stop these people from coming in here. We got to go back to that.”

The recently elected speaker highlighted legislation and bipartisan work that has gone into finding a  way to address major border issues.

“We passed H.R. 2 more than six months ago, but Senate Democrats have refused to act on it. 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,” said Rep. Johnson.

The bill, which passed the House in May, makes various changes to immigration law, including by imposing limits on asylum eligibility and requiring employers to use an electronic system to verify the employment eligibility of new employees.

In November, Speaker Johnson passed one of the first major bills of his term. The $14.3 billion bill was set to send aid to Israel, as it defended itself from the terrorist organization Hamas. Still, it did not include aid to Ukraine, which is currently fighting a war against Russia. The Biden administration has called for a $106 billion package that would send funds to both Ukraine and Israel, as well as other programs.