Joe Biden Says He’s ‘Ready to Fix’ the Border, Ignores His Role in Breaking It
President Joe Biden said during a feisty State of the Union address on Thursday that he was “ready to fix” the southern border, and he blamed Donald Trump for pressuring congressional Republicans to derail a bipartisan border-security bill that he said would have allowed him to do so.
Despite the border chaos on his watch, Biden touted his immigration efforts, declaring that “on my first day in office, I introduced a comprehensive plan to fix our immigration system, secure the border, and provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and so much more.”
But while he tried to point the blame at Trump and Republicans, Biden failed to acknowledge that he and his administration bear most of the blame for the historic surge of illegal crossings that began shortly after his inauguration in 2021. And he didn’t acknowledge that he already largely has authority to take action on his own to improve security at the border.
Biden said the bipartisan border bill would have hired more border-security agents, immigration judges, and asylum officers, and it would have given him “new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.” Republicans jeered.
“What are you against?” Biden said. “Look at the facts. I know you know how to read.”
He blamed the bill’s failure on Trump, whom he did not name. “I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him.” He flubbed a line about the bill, saying “I’d be a winner” instead of “It’d be a winner for America,” and he egged on Republicans, telling them that they “owe it to the American people to get this bill done.”
At one point he appeared to botch the name of Laken Riley, a young Georgia woman who was recently killed by an illegal immigrant while she was jogging — Biden called her “Lincoln.”
“We can fight about the border, or we can fix it,” Biden said. “I’m ready to fix it.”
Republicans rejected the border bill, arguing that it would end up encouraging more illegal immigration. They also argued that Biden already has the tools to end the border crisis, and doubted that he would use new tools to significantly improve things.
A Gallup poll last month found that “immigration” was listed as “the most important problem facing this country today” by 28 percent of respondents, topping 14 other issues.
During his address, Biden made no mention of his rhetoric as a presidential candidate that encouraged immigrants to travel to the country. And he did not acknowledge the various policy decisions he and his administration have made that have worsened the immigration crisis.
During his 2020 campaign, Biden openly expressed frustrations with Trump’s hardline border policies, calling for a 100-day moratorium on deportations, and promising to protect sanctuary cities and to accept more asylum seekers.
At one point he called it “bizarre” to think that “a country of 330 million cannot absorb people who are in desperate need and who are justifiably fleeing oppression,” according to a CNN report. He said the U.S. could “afford to take in a heartbeat another two million” immigrants.
During Thursday’s address, he said he would “not demonize immigrants.”
On his first day in office, Biden made a proclamation ending Trump’s national-emergency declaration at the border and halting construction of the border wall, and he issued an executive order that revoked a Trump order aimed at prioritizing the removing illegal aliens.
In the following weeks, he issued an executive order that put numerous Trump-era immigration policies on the chopping block, including the “Remain in Mexico” policy and safe-third country agreements that allowed the U.S. to divert asylum-seekers to Central American countries.
Later that year, he condemned U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback, who were wrongly accused of whipping immigrants in Texas. Biden immediately weighed in, alleging that “people [are] being strapped” and declaring that the mounted agents “will pay.”
Illegal border crossings surged during Biden’s first year in office, with Border Patrol agents apprehending more than 2 million migrants at the southwest border.
The crisis has continued. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that more than 7 million immigrants have illegally entered the country during Biden’s presidency.
In December, Border Patrol agents apprehended almost 250,000 immigrants at the southern border, the highest monthly number of encounters in U.S. history, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it “not unusual.”
Despite Biden’s efforts to blame Republicans for sinking the border deal — Trump said on TruthSocial that it would be “STUPID!!!” to tie border security to foreign aid — recent polls show that voters are not buying the president’s spin on immigration.
A Democrat-heavy poll from the Economist/YouGov in February found 59 percent of registered voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the immigration crisis. A Monmouth University poll last month was even worse, with 71 percent of registered voters disapproving of the president’s handling of the border.
Alabama Senator Katie Britt, giving the Republican response to Biden’s address, said that the president’s immigration policies are a “disgrace,” and that the “despicable” border crisis “is almost entirely preventable.”
“President Biden inherited the most secure border of all time. But minutes after taking office, he suspended all deportations, he halted construction of the border wall, and he announced a plan to give amnesty to millions,” she said. “We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis, he invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days.”
Biden’s hands-off approach at the border has been a boon to Trump, who has prioritized border security since his first run for the presidency. If re-elected, Trump has vowed to create “the largest deportation effort in the history of our country.”
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