President Biden hinted in a new interview that aired Tuesday night that he is planning a possible executive order to effectively shut down the border by the end of the month.
Univision’s Enrique Acevedo asked the president if he had decided whether to issue an executive order, and Biden indicated that it may be on the table.
“Well, it’s suggested that we’re examining whether or not I have that power,” Biden replied. “I would have that power under the legislation when – when the border has over five, 500,000 people, 25,000 people a day trying to cross the border because you can’t manage it, slow it up. There’s no — there’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we’re trying to work that work through that right now.”
Acevedo spoke to Biden in the Oval Office about various topics, including the border, student loans, NATO expansion and Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
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WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 09: President Joe Biden joins family caregivers, care workers, early childhood educators and advocates to celebrate progress made by care champions while calling for additional legislative action at a rally in Union Station on April 09, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Care Can’t Wait Action)
On immigration, Acevedo referenced the controversial, but bipartisan, Senate border agreement, as Biden and his administration have sought to shift blame for the crisis onto Republicans’ shoulders.
Biden told Acevedo that the package, negotiated with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., whom the president categorized as a “very conservative Republican from Oklahoma,” would have paid for more Border Patrol agents to interview asylum seekers and machinery to detect fentanyl and other illegal drugs coming in.
Migrants stopped by U.S. Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border in Campo, California, US, on Friday, April 5, 2024. (Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It didn’t have everything I wanted. I told them I was going to go back and get Dreamers etc., but the thing it did do, it provided for a significant more personnel to make an orderly transfer and allow legal immigration to increase, not decrease and diminish illegal immigration,” Biden said, attempting to court the Hispanic and Latino vote. “What happened was when Trump found out that I liked it and I supported it, and I’d get, quote, credit for it, he got on the phone, not a joke, checked with the Republicans and called them and said, don’t be for it, will benefit Biden. When the hell would you vote on a major piece of legislation based on whether you benefit somebody that’s in politics? It’s either good or it’s bad. It was a good piece of legislation, and I’m not giving up on it.”
Border Patrol agents prepare to transport migrants for asylum claim processing at the US-Mexico border in Campo, California, US, on Friday, April 5, 2024. (Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
At the onset of the interview, Acevedo referenced how Biden during is State of the Union address said freedom and democracy are under assault at home.
“What, in your view, constitutes the primary threat to freedom and democracy at home?” he asked the president.
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Biden immediately cited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, replying: Donald Trump. Seriously. Donald Trump talk uses phrases like we’re going to eviscerate the Constitution. He’s going to be a dictator on day one. The idea that he would sit in the office, and I’ll show you before you leave, off the Oval Office and watched for hours the attack on the Capitol and the destruction and the mayhem and the people who were killed. The police officers who died and called them political heroes, call them patriots. And saying that if he gets elected, he’s going to free them all because they’re being held illegally.”
This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.
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