Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana says he directly confronted President Joe Biden about the border crisis and told him in no uncertain terms, “Do your job.”
Johnson appeared on the Fox News show “The Ingraham Angle” on Wednesday and was asked about how Democrats seem unwilling to go to the nation’s southern border to witness the conditions there firsthand.
The speaker also was asked if he would succumb to pressure to accept the Democrats’ plans for the border.
“No one is strong-arming me. I told the president — I looked right across the table from him in the Cabinet officials’ room and I said, ‘Mr. President, you have the authority right now to end this catastrophe. It’s your actions that created it,’” Johnson said.
He said he presented Biden with 64 documented instances of actions by his administration that led directly to the border crisis.
The speaker said the ball is really in the president’s court and no new laws are needed to solve the problem — Biden needs to start enforcing the laws we already have.
“I’ve cited to him — read him the legal authority on the phone on Thursday of last week that he could take,” Johnson said of the president.
He went on to say that Biden insisted he was ready to do “big things” about the border crisis.
“Well, Hallelujah. Mr. President — President Biden, do your job. Fix the catastrophe that you’ve created,” the speaker said. “It’s an unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe. A national security catastrophe.”
Is the border crisis the No. 1 issue on your mind in 2024?
Host Laura Ingraham asked Johnson if a bill being prepared by Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford includes a wave of new green cards and amnesty for illegals and a provision to limit expulsions of illegals, as reports have indicated.
Langford has said such reports are false.
For his part, Johnson said we all must wait to see the text of Langford’s bill before commenting.
“I’m hopeful that they’ll [in the Senate] come up with something meaningful,” he said.
The speaker noted the House has passed legislation — House Bill 2 — introduced by Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida last year.
“But what I have said from the very beginning is that we have to have HR 2 or the functional equivalent thereof,” Johnson told Ingraham.
“It has very important provisions. We reform asylum and the broken parole process. We restore the Trump-era ‘Remain in Mexico‘ policy, which is essential. And you end catch-and-release,” he added.
“We need to rebuild the wall. There are other elements as well, but some of those are essential to stop the flow,” the speaker said.
It is unclear just how many “big things” the president is prepared to do on the border. According to the New York Post, Biden has admitted that there is a problem there but has refused to take the blame for creating the crisis.
“No, it’s not,” Biden said when asked if the border was secure. But he then appeared to blame Republicans for the issue, adding, “I haven’t believed that for the last 10 years, and I’ve said it for the last 10 years. Give me the money.”
Still, many in his administration, his Cabinet members and agency heads, have denied that the border is out of control.
During a 2019 Democrat presidential primary debate, Biden himself said, “I would in fact make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border — all those people are seeking asylum, they deserve to be heard, that’s who we are. We’re a nation that says if you want to flee and you’re fleeing oppression, you should come.”
