Biden says he’ll shut down the border ‘when overwhelmed’ as he urges passing of Senate border deal

On Friday, President Joe Biden said that he would close the border if a bill negotiation with regards to immigration took place. Biden stated this would give him “new emergency authority” to shut down the border when it’s “overwhelmed.”

In a statement, the President said the bill, if passed, would "be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country."

"It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed," he noted. "And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law."

According to the Washington Post, sources told them that the emergency powers would allow the president authorization to shut down asylum screenings for illegal immigrants once crossings exceed 5,000 people per day over a five-day average. Those who crossed illegally while the emergency order was in place would be expelled from the country until the average dropped below 3,750 a day.

In his statement, President Biden also pushed for Congress to approve a funding request he requested in October. "This includes an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border," he said of the request.

In response to the presidents statement, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, "President Biden falsely claimed yesterday he needs Congress to pass a new law to allow him to close the southern border, but he knows that is untrue." He added, "As I explained to him in a letter late last year, and have specifically reiterated to him on multiple occasions since, he can and must take executive action immediately to reverse the catastrophe he has created."

"The Immigration and Nationality Act coupled with recent Supreme Court precedent give him ‘ample authority’ to ‘suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.’" Johnson noted. "President Biden can begin to secure the border by ending catch-and-release, ceasing exploitation of parole authority, reinstating the Remain in Mexico program, expanding the use of expedited removal authority, and renewing construction of the border wall."

Johnson said Biden's proposal "would expressly allow as many as 150,000 illegal crossings each month (1.8 million per year) before any new ‘shutdown’ authority could be used." He added, "At that point, America will have already been surrendered."

Other critics of the presidents plan say that the bill is unnecessary and that immigration agents just need to do their job. The Post Millennial editor-in-chief, Libby Emmons noted, "Biden asks Congress to give him 'emergency authority’ so he can ‘shut down the border,' But he didn't need ‘emergency authority’ to blow it wide open."

"And he doesn't need more border agents and judges just so he can process illegal immigrants faster," Emmons added.

Talk Radio host Dana Loesch posted in response to the statement, "Asinine. We don't need more asylum agents or immigration judges." She added, "We need a closed border to unlawful crossings, period. Enforce the law. Do your job."

President Biden claimed that "[f]or too long, we all know the border’s been broken," and that "[i]t’s long past time to fix it."

Republicans have long criticized the administration's inaction at the border. Currently, 25 states have vowed support to the state of Texas in securing their southern border, after the Supreme Court ruled that Biden's border patrol agents could remove razor wire from the border placed by the Texas National Guard in an effort to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the US.