On January 3, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson led a delegation of 64 Republican lawmakers to the country's southwestern border, seeking to increase pressure in an election year on President Joe Biden and Democrats to achieve tougher immigration restrictions.
The delegation visited one of the main border cities in Eagle Pass, Texas – where illegal border crossings into the U.S. have increased in recent months – and held a press conference that afternoon.
Emphasizing that the Democratic president's immigration policies are failing, Johnson said: “Under President Biden, America has rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants, smugglers, and gangs. He is responsible for the serious threat to our national security and sovereignty that these policies have created.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican lawmakers visit Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 3, 2024. Photo: NY Post
The latest data shows a record 302,000 migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in December, an increase of nearly 60,000 from the 242,416 in November and an additional 61,000 from the 240,998 in October 2023, according to ABC News.
However, the White House announced on January 2nd that it would reopen Eagle Pass along with three other border crossings in Arizona and California, citing a decrease in the number of migrants arriving there in recent days.
“It was an eye-opener,” Johnson said. “One thing is absolutely clear: America is at a tipping point with record levels of illegal immigration, and today we have seen firsthand the damage and chaos that this border disaster is causing to all of our communities.”
House Speaker Johnson's trip to Eagle Pass comes as U.S. senators are engaged in delicate negotiations hoping to reach an agreement on border policies that could pave the way for Republican support in the Senate for Biden's $110 billion proposal for Ukraine, Israel, and other U.S. security priorities.
But Johnson, the top Republican lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives, told the Associated Press during a trip to the border that he is determined to follow the policies in the bill passed by Republican members of the House last May without a single vote of support from the Democratic Party.
The bill, known as HR 2, would restore many policies pursued by former President Donald Trump, including building more border walls and imposing new restrictions on asylum seekers. Democrats have called these provisions “cruel” and “anti-immigrant,” and Biden has stated he will veto the bill.
"If it's like HR 2, we'll talk about it," Johnson said, referring to the bill being debated in the Senate. At the press conference, Johnson also signaled that he might use the deadline of the next round of government funding as further leverage.
Migrants attempt to cross a barbed wire fence in the Rio Grande, Texas, USA, on September 18, 2023. Photo: El Paso Matters
"If President Biden wants a supplemental spending bill focused on national security, he'd better start by protecting America's national security," Johnson said, adding, "First, we want to close and secure the border."
Biden has expressed a willingness to make policy compromises as record numbers of migrants crossing the border pose a growing challenge to his 2024 re-election campaign. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House officials have been involved in negotiations in the Senate.
“We have to do something,” Biden told reporters on the evening of January 2nd. He said Congress should pass his national security proposal because it also includes funding to manage the flow of migrants. “They have to give me the money I need to secure the border,” Biden said.
Both houses of the U.S. Congress, including the House and the Senate, will reconvene next week .
Minh Duc (According to ABC News, AP)
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