Biden says Republicans are to blame for border collapse, claims there's no 'crisis' of illegal immigration

President Joe Biden recently suggested that the border crisis is worsening at the fault of Republicans in Congress after not approving his request for more funding that would increase immigration processing.  

"On my first day in office...I sent Congress a comprehensive piece of legislation that would completely overhaul what has been a broken immigration system for a long time," Biden said in remarks last week.  

"But congressional Republicans have refused to consider my comprehensive plan. And they rejected my recent request for an additional $3.5 billion to secure the border and funds for 2,000 new asylum personnel." 

Republicans in Congress say they have rejected the proposal because the package's funding would put money into processing immigrants into the country rather than actual border enforcement.  

Addressing Biden's border policies, House Speaker Mike Johnson said, "What the White House is proposing is more money to process and allow more illegals into the country. We need to do the opposite of that." 

Johnson recounted an experience talking to the deputy chief of the border patrol who said that the border is like a fire hydrant and Biden's policies instead of stopping the flow of water have let it go. 

"'I don't need more buckets... I need to turn the flow off.' That's why we're here today," Johnson said.  

In December, there was a record set of over 300,000 illegal immigrant encounters at the border. That figure does not take into account gotaways.  

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has also been hit with hearings on a resolution for him to be impeached by House Republicans over his handling of the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border.