U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks, flanked by U.S. President Joe Biden, during the president’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., February 29, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday dismissed Republican claims that the border can be managed through President Joe Biden’s executive actions alone, even as the White House is weighing some of those measures behind closed doors.
“We are always considering options,” Mayorkas said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But administrative measures are no substitute for a permanent solution.”
Officials told NBC News in February that Biden was considering adopting tougher asylum standards without Congress. The rules would raise the bar for asylum seekers and deport any migrants who do not meet these high standards.
Tightening asylum grants is just one of the policy options Biden is considering to unilaterally regulate the border, officials told NBC News.
But Mayorkas, who was impeached by House Republicans in February, reiterated that executive actions are an inappropriate tool for border control because they are subject to legal challenges and could likely end up in court.
Instead, he said Congress must pass the bipartisan border proposal he rejected in February.
Mayorkas’ comments follow the White House’s current plan for the border crisis: He publicly condemns Capitol Hill’s gridlock on border policy while the president privately weighs the executive branch’s border actions.
The border issue has gained political significance, particularly as anti-Biden ammunition for GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump. Both Biden and Trump visited cities on the southern border on Thursday, each seeking to take offense on the issue.
“This is what I would say to Mr. Trump: Set a planned policy on this issue instead of telling members of Congress to block this legislation,” Biden said Thursday in Brownsville, Texas.
Trump reportedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate $20 billion in additional border security funding included in a foreign aid package proposal to avoid giving Democrats a victory in an election year. This brought the reform of border policy back on track after months of negotiations.
Meanwhile, Republicans continue to blame Biden for the border problems, arguing that he does not need additional powers to control the border but rather has no desire to execute him.
“If we don’t get him out of the Oval Office, we will never have a secure border because he doesn’t have the will to implement basic border controls,” Sen. JD Vance, R-Oh., said Sunday on Fox News: “Sunday Morning Futures”.
Mayorkas and White House officials have strongly rejected that claim.
“The mistake couldn’t be bigger,” Mayorkas said Sunday. “Administrative action is no substitute for a permanent solution…Congress needs to get a backbone.”
But the longer the Biden administration waits for Congress to act, the higher the political costs will be. With border legislation remaining at a stalemate in Congress, the Biden team is seeking a border victory without help from Capitol Hill.
“Folks, it’s time for us to move on,” Biden said Thursday in Brownsville. “We can not wait anymore.”
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2024-03-03 17:28:33
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