House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) broke with Democrats on Thursday after saying the party wants open borders to secure millions of votes for President Joe Biden.
Speaking about the latest bipartisan border bill, Johnson accused Democrats of wanting to turn illegal immigrants into voters “and change the outcome of the census in six years.”
Johnson accused the Biden Administration of taking 64 executive actions and deliberately opening the southern border. He said that Biden has the authority to secure the nation’s border and reverse his policies, but refuses to do so.
The Speaker told Fox News Channel’s Harris Faulkner that he believes the president is in denial about the havoc his border policies have created for the United States.
“I think that many in his party have demanded, there is an open border informal caucus in the Democratic Party and they pushed this agenda,” Johnson said. “The reason is, Harris, everybody asked me, I’ve been in 110 cities and 29 states in the last 5 1/2 months around the country campaigning with incumbents and candidates. Everywhere I am no matter where in the country everybody says why would they do this? It is such a catastrophe for the country? Why would the president allow this? They want to turn these people into voters and change the outcome of the census in six years. It sounds sinister and it is and they have exacted untold damage on the country.”
Johnson insisted that the reason Democrats won’t touch the HR 2 bill, which has been sitting on Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) desk, is because it would reinstate measures that would secure the border, such as the Trump Administration’s Remain In Mexico policy. It would also end the left’s catch-and-release program.
Johnson’s comments come as he dismissed the latest bipartisan border bill, dubbing it an “immigration bill.” He said it would “codify” the “terrible” border decisions the Biden Administration has enacted, which is why, he said, Republicans are against it.
The Speaker cited the border issue as the top concern among Americans leading up to the November election, saying there has never been an issue that polled as high as Biden’s border crisis.
“[It’s] a concern that every American has,” Johnson said, citing that there are close to 17 million illegal immigrants who have crossed the border since Biden took office. “People are fed up.”