https://www.nationalreview.com/news/joe-biden-says-hes-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.”