(USNewsMag.com) – In a Jan. 9 memo, House Speaker and Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson fired back at the Biden administration, listing actions it has taken that have led to the crisis at the southern border. The action comes after the White House attempted to blame House Republicans for the migrant crisis just before Johnson visited the border on Jan. 3.
The Jan. 9 memo states that “a humanitarian and national security catastrophe” is happening at the border because of the more than 64 actions taken by the Biden administration that have opened the border “to illegal immigrants, human trafficking, fentanyl, and potential terrorists.” It cites specific examples of policy decisions the Biden administration has made, which Johnson said made the crisis worse.
Johnson stated the crisis worsened due to Biden’s executive orders rolling back Trump administration policies, including Remain in Mexico, construction of the border wall, and ending the national emergency at the border. The memo pointed to Biden expanding the use of catch-and-release, which allows undocumented migrants to wait in the U.S. for their immigration proceedings.
In the memo, Johnson also stated that the border crisis worsened because of government assistance programs put in place for illegal migrants and the expansion of parole authorities.
The memo included data on monthly encounters at the border, with details about how many migrants were unaccompanied children and how much had been fentanyl seized at the border. In fiscal year 2023, there were 2.4 million migrant encounters, with December setting a record of more than 300,000 migrant encounters.
Once again, Johnson called on Biden to unilaterally take action “to repair what he has broken.
The memo echoes the reforms Republicans hope to achieve during the negotiations about the border with the White House. Republicans state that policy changes must accompany funding increases in order to solve the crisis at the border, with Republicans refusing further funding for Ukraine and Israel unless there are changes made to border policies.
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