Trump Responds to Biden's New Mass 'Amnesty' Border Policy
President Donald Trump and his campaign responded to President Joe Biden’s new executive order regarding the southern border — saying it will make the crisis worse.
Biden’s executive order issued Tuesday allows him to shut down the southern border between the ports of entry when illegal crossings average 2,500 per day, which is the case right now, Politico reported.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas can reopen the border after average crossings fall below 1,500 per day for seven consecutive days.
Biden’s proclamation blamed the border crisis on global conditions, including failing regimes, natural disasters and “dire economic conditions.”
“As a result of these global conditions, we have been experiencing substantial levels of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, including at our southwest land border,” the president said.
Trump responded to Biden’s plan, saying in a video posted on Truth Social, “Millions of people have poured into our country — and now, after nearly four years of his failed, weak, pathetic leadership, Crooked Joe Biden is pretending to finally do something about the border. But in fact, it’s all about show because he knows we have a debate coming up in three weeks.”
“It will actually make the invasion worse,” he continued. “Biden is secretly granting amnesty to hundred of thousands of these illegal aliens, along with welfare, government benefits, work permits and jobs.”
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt added a Trump campaign statement on her X account: “Joe Biden’s Executive Order is for amnesty, not border security.
“After importing more than 15 million illegal aliens into our country and releasing countless criminal migrants who have brutally raped and murdered our citizens, this new order will facilitate the release of more illegals as quickly as possible with a smartphone app,” it continued.
🚨Our Statement on Crooked Joe Biden’s Mass Amnesty to Destroy America: pic.twitter.com/3gtyT6cVLU
— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) June 4, 2024
“The border invasion and migrant crime will not stop until Crooked Joe Biden is deported from the White House,” the statement concluded.
There are several exceptions to the rule, including migrants who have appointments for their asylum claims made through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s smartphone app. In which case, they are permitted to enter the United States through a port of entry.
The administration is currently processing about 1,500 migrants’ asylum claims a day at official ports, according to Politico.
Other exceptions include, “unaccompanied children, some victims of trafficking, migrants facing acute medical emergencies or imminent threats to their safety,” the outlet noted.
Under Biden’s new directive, over 912,000 migrants per year could, in theory, enter the U.S. illegally between ports of entry before the border could be shut down.
By comparison, that would be more than Trump’s worst year for illegal border crossings, which was approximately 852,000 in 2019, while the other three years the numbers ranged between 300,000 and 400,000.
According to CBP, there were a record 2.48 million total encounters at the southern border in fiscal year 2023, a half million more than all four years under Trump combined.
Altogether, there have been over 8.1 million border encounters, which does not include the 1.6 million estimated so-called gotaways that escaped apprehension.
In April, Gallup reported that for the third straight month, immigration was the most important problem facing the U.S.
“A steady 27 percent of Americans say the most important problem facing the U.S. is immigration, topping Gallup’s open-ended trend for the third consecutive month, the longest stretch for this particular issue in the past 24 years,” the polling firm said. The economy came in third at 17 percent.
Between 2001 and 2024, immigration only held the top spot eight times compared to the economy, which led the list 101 times.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last month found 56 percent of Americans believe “most or all immigrants in the U.S. illegally should be deported.”
In January when questioned why he had not taken executive action to address the border crisis yet, Biden responded, “I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power I asked for the very day I got in office. Give me the Border Patrol. Give me the people that judge [asylum claims]. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work rationally.”
At the time the president was calling for Congress to pass more funding for border security, which Republicans balked at, saying Biden wanted the increased resources to process even more migrants into the country.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson referred back to Biden’s January statement saying, “It was 126 days ago, today, that Joe Biden said, ‘I’ve done all I can do.'”
126 days ago, Joe Biden stated, “I’ve done all I can do” to fix the border catastrophe.
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. pic.twitter.com/L92r9SO8Ui
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) June 4, 2024
Johnson contended that the Biden administration had taken 64 executive actions to make the border wide open.
The speaker called Biden’s new executive order “window dressing.”
Johnson said, if the president were serious about securing the border, he would reinstate Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy and end catch-and-release of migrants into the country.
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