Joe Biden admitted Friday that the U.S.-Mexico border is not secure – despite his Homeland Security secretary insisting it was – and called on Congress to take action to prevent further influxes.
The president was asked by a White House reporter if the border was secure and replied, “No, it is not,” according to The New York Post.
In March 2021, Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News: “The border is closed.” “The border is secure.”
The president's rejection of his homeland security secretary appeared to be a response to polls showing voters are increasingly concerned about his administration's handling of the border. With the election now less than a year away, his approval of how to handle immigration is at an all-time low.
Biden tried to shift blame on Friday, saying he had asked Congress to approve his plan for dealing with the border but was thwarted.
Joe Biden is seen at the White House on Friday discussing immigration. He admitted that the US-Mexico border is not secure
President Biden on the border and negotiations with Republicans: “I'm ready to act… I think next week we should be able to agree on something at least in the Senate.” pic.twitter.com/eTzla9NmjK
– CSPAN (@cspan) January 19, 2024
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted in March 2021 that the border was “closed” and “secure.”
And he appeared visibly upset as he discussed the widespread view that his government is failing to cope with the crisis.
“I love how I turned on the TV and said, 'Biden is for a free and open border, just tear down everything – all come, no restrictions,'” he said sarcastically.
“I am convinced that we need significant policy changes at the border, including changes to our asylum system, to ensure we have the authorities we need to control the border. “I am ready to act.”
Biden told congressional leaders during a meeting at the White House this week that he wants a “major border security” bill to get Congress to start work on his $110 billion national security package for Ukraine, Israel and others Needs to complete, including the U.S. border with Mexico.
Mayorkas was instrumental in Senate negotiations over the border security package, which would potentially restrict entry into the U.S. and more quickly deport people in the country without legal documents.
He said House Speaker Mike Johnson would have to decide whether to cooperate with him or block him and accused Republicans of “weaponizing” the border.
“Now the question is for the speaker and the Republicans in the House of Representatives: Are they also prepared to act?” Biden said.
“They have to decide whether they want to solve a problem or continue to use the problem as a weapon to score political points against the president.” I am ready to solve the problem. I'm really.
“Massive changes, and I mean that sincerely.”
Migrants are shown walking through a barbed wire fence near Ciudad Juárez to cross from Mexico to the United States on Wednesday
A group of migrants cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday while golfers play a round
On January 9, a number of migrants are seen moving through the Mexican state of Oaxaca on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border
The Biden campaign was likely disturbed by a Jan. 7 CBS poll that found only 32 percent of Americans approved of Biden's handling of the border.
The poll also found that 45 percent of Americans view the border situation as a crisis and another 30 percent view it as a serious problem.
CBS found that Americans' attitudes toward the border have changed since September: Back then, 55 percent thought Biden should take a tougher line, but now that number has risen to 63 percent.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to impeach Mayorkas over the border situation.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green is aiming for a vote on Mayorkas' impeachment by the end of the month and plans to have the full House's decision as early as February – which would be the first time for a Cabinet official in nearly 150 years.
Green, a Republican from Tennessee, opened the second impeachment hearing saying “no American is safe” because of Mayorkas's handling of the U.S.-Mexico border with record numbers of illegal crossings.
He argued that the minister's “egregious misconduct and failure to fulfill his oath of office” were grounds for impeachment.
But the panel's top Democrat, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who has repeatedly insisted that policy differences with Biden are not grounds for impeachment, was corroborated by one of the witnesses, Princeton University law professor Deborah Pearlstein.
“Political differences, no matter how deep, are precisely not the point of impeachment,” Pearlstein said.
She argued that no branch of the U.S. government has more power than Congress to set policy and that those powers have “left unused” because of years of inaction on border legislation.