GOP Criticizes Biden’s Election-Year Border Actions

With President Joe Biden on track to have overseen over 10 million migrant encounters at U.S. borders, Republican officials are sounding the alarm over his signing an executive order supposedly intending to tighten the southern border, calling the move an “election-year border charade” and a “shallow act to pretend he’s trying to fix” the border crisis when in fact he is merely motivated by his “horrible polling numbers.”

Details regarding the order, issued by the DHS, show Biden taking cues from a failed Senate immigration deal that similarly permitted thousands of daily migrant encounters at the nation’s southern border before the DHS could control portions between Ports of Entry.

Most significantly, the order mandates that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas may only restrict such portions of the border after 2,500 migrants have been encountered over a seven day period. This is the equivalent to roughly 17,500 migrants arriving at the border each week, or about a million migrants a year.

“Make no mistake–whatever half-measures Joe Biden is taking on the border are driven solely by political concerns,” argued Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

“If Biden wins, he will remove any remaining barriers to illegal aliens crossing,” he added.

“Biden campaigned as a president who would put illegal aliens first. He promised free healthcare, an open border, and an end to deportations,” he wrote in another post. “Those may be the only promises Biden has delivered.”

“While Biden has been talking tough on the border, he’s been secretly carrying out a mass amnesty policy,” wrote Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley. “He should explain to the American public how this is remotely legal.”

He also accused Biden of having “done NOTHING for 3 years and counting to stop the border crisis.”

“At the start of his presidency, Biden inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. All he had to do was NOTHING — just sit and leave the border alone,” wrote Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “Instead, he deliberately broke the system.”

“HR2 has been sitting on Chuck Schumer’s desk for 390 days. HR2 is the ONLY border bill that passed. The Senate bill NEVER passed,” wrote Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds.

“America, Joe Biden is gaslighting you. He broke the southern border and didn’t care how it impacted you and your communities,” he added. “Joe Biden is blaming everyone for the damage he has done to our country. He must be defeated this November!”

“Biden broke our border ON PURPOSE with 94 actions & we’re overrun with millions of illegals,” he wrote in another post. “No amount of gaslighting will ever change these facts.”

“President Biden is in trouble politically in part because he gave in to the loon wing of his party and dissolved the southern border,” wrote Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy. “Now—5 months before an election—he has to pretend to be willing to secure the border.”

In a joint statement with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican majority whip Rep. Tom Emmer, and New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik on Biden’s “Election-Year Border Charade,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the executive order “nothing more than a desperate political stunt to try and stabilize his plummeting poll numbers.”

They continue:

From his first day in office, Biden has worked to implement a failed open border agenda which created this historic humanitarian and national security catastrophe. He has turned every American community into a border community and opened our country to violent criminals, terrorists, cartels, and poisonous drugs.

This Executive action does nothing to end parole abuses or catch-and-release. It continues the administration’s abuse of the CBP One app. It does not reimplement President Trump’s successful Remain in Mexico policy. It provides no new resources for border patrol. It does nothing to deport the millions who have poured over our open border every year since Biden took office. And it will still allow scores of additional illegal immigrants to flood into our country before any so-called shutdown authority kicks in.

Over a year ago, House Republicans passed the Secure the Border Act, which would actually fix the problem, but Joe Biden and Senate Democrats continue to drag their feet on taking meaningful action, sacrificing the safety and security of our communities.

“Americans can see right through Biden’s election-year stunt,” the statement concluded.

“126 days ago, Joe Biden stated, ‘I’ve done all I can do’ to fix the border catastrophe,” Johnson wrote in another post. “Today, he’ll announce an executive action using the same authority he denied having.”

“If he was actually concerned about our wide-open border, he would have acted a long time ago,” he added.

“The fact is that Biden took over 300 executive actions during his first year alone, which caused the crisis we’re seeing at our border,” wrote Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of the Sunshine State. “This shallow act to pretend he’s trying to fix it is just a response to his horrible polling numbers.”

“Biden created the open border crisis he is now ‘trying’ to fix. How convenient right before election,” she added.

“Will the MSM call Biden ‘Xenophic’ and ‘Racist’ for wanting to do something on border security?” Luna asked in another post.

“Biden’s executive order is a ploy to trick the American people before November,” claimed Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “In his first 100 days in office he issued 94 executive orders to OPEN the border because that has been his goal all along.”

“Biden issued 94 executive orders to open the southern border within his first 100 days in office,” she wrote in another post. “He has refused to enforce the laws on the books & turned every state into a border state.”

“Does anyone believe this new executive order will actually secure the border?” she asked.

“We need border security, not Biden’s amnesty executive order,” Blackburn insisted, charging that “Democrats support the invasion of our southern border.”

“Shut down the border,” she demanded.

“No half-baked, too little too late Border executive order that still allows over a MILLION illegals in a year will convince Americans that Dems are serious about border security,” wrote House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. “It’s just an attempt to save themselves politically after their own actions caused this huge crisis.”

“Biden’s announcement today does nothing to secure the border,” wrote Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “It actually AUTHORIZES 2,500 aliens to cross illegally & provides an enticement that will attract even more illegal immigrants.”

“He’s just trying to hoodwink Americans to think he’s taking action before the election,” he added.

“Spare us the lies, Joe,” wrote Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). “You had three and a half years to ‘vigorously enforce the law’ but chose not to act.”

“The Senate has been sitting on H.R. 2, the strongest immigration legislation the House has passed in decades, for over a year,” he added. “This is YOUR border crisis.”

“Biden new border ‘plan’ is a joke,” insisted Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. “Even if Biden actually enforced it fully (which he won’t) it would still allow close to a million people a year to cross illegally ON TOP OF the 10 million he has already allowed in over the last 3 years.”

Biden new border “plan” is a joke