Tipsheet

So, About Biden's Executive Order on Immigration

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  March 13, 2024 10:30 AM

Last month, President Joe Biden was reportedly considering an executive order to deal with the crisis at the southern border, after insisting Congress needed to act to give him authority by passing a terrible border bill that wouldn't actually fix the issue. The possible timeline mentioned by Axios was "in the two weeks before the [State of the Union] address," which has since come and gone, considering the address was last Thursday. Now, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is saying that the president is still going the route of putting pressure on Congress.

"The president said yesterday that he was hoping executive action on the border would happen by itself, that Congress would legislate it," Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich asked during Tuesday's press briefing. "Can you just confirm for us that this indicates that he’s no longer considering executive action on the border?"

Jean-Pierre claimed she and the president had been "very clear" that "the bottom line is in order to have--actually have change--extensive change, real change, comprehensive change--that Senate bill that was--that was negotiated between Republicans and Sen--obviously, Democrats in the Senate would have been the best way to go."

She went on to sign the bill's praises, claiming "it would have been the toughest, fairest piece of--piece of legislation--law, if you will--if it had been--if it had been moved and the president was able to sign it into law," which she claimed was "what's important."

Of course, this leaves out that the House already passed the Secure the Border Act last May. 

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"The president is trying to make it very clear: No executive action would a--would have that effect--the effect that this bipartisan negotiation would have had," Jean-Pierre insisted, offering Biden's "going to be optimistic" and "he wants to see it moved."

Jean-Pierre then went with talking points we've heard repeatedly from the White House on anything remotely to do with immigration, as she blamed former and potentially future President Donald Trump for the bill failing, rather than it being a bad bill. "They chose politics instead of a majority of the American people," she claimed. "Republicans rejected it because of politics."

Despite how Biden issued executive orders on his very first day of office to make the border less secure, something he has continued to do, Jean-Pierre also mentioned that "the president stands behind the majority of Americans who want to see change happen at the border, who wants to see our immigration system that’s been broken for decades fixed."

Immigration is not only a top issue in the polls for voters, but RealClearPolling also has Biden with just a 30.6 percent approval rating while 66 percent disapprove, making it his most unpopular issue. 

As Heinrich pushed back, seeking more clarity about "conflicting answers," Jean-Pierre repeatedly insisted there weren't any such conflicting answers. During the back-and-forth, the press secretary continued to stick to how the president still wants to see a so-called border security bill passed. 

"You’re asking me if there’s executive actions that we can take, and what we’re saying is there are no executive actions that would have done the work or would have actually been able to deal with the issue that’s happening at the border and starting to really fix the immigration system than the bipartisan bill that came out of the Senate that--well, negotiation that came out of the Senate. And we are saying that that’s the best way to go," Jean-Pierre shared. 

"We're always looking at options--executive actions, right," Jean-Pierre added. "But we believe--fundamentally, we believe--and it is proven by what is in that negotiation--that the way to move forward is to actually move forward with what could have been a--the toughest, fairest law that we’ve had in some time," she also said, which again, ignores that the House already passed a bill last year. 

Putting her phrasing another way when it comes to the bill, Jean-Pierre had also said, "We are saying also--is the only way to move forward to actually deal with this issue, the challenges that we’re seeing, that Republicans rejected because of the last President--because of Donald Trump--is that negotiation bill, that bipartisan negotiation bill.  That is the way to move forward here."

She also said that their "bottom line" was "we have not made a decision on that" with executive orders.

Jean-Pierre once more threw charges of how Republicans "chose politics" before Heinrich asked another question. 

Such a lengthy non-response comes as Biden on Monday, as Heinrich and Jean-Pierre also discussed, was approached about the timeline of an executive action.

"I'm counting on the border action happening by itself--passing it," Biden told a reporter by Air Force One, seemingly speaking about Congress passing such legislation.

When confronted by how Congress hasn't actually been able to "come to an agreement," Biden offered, "Well, they haven't yet," indicating what indeed looks to be a preference for hiding behind insisting it's only Congress that needs to act here.