Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed details Wednesday on Fox News from his one-on-one conversation with President Joe Biden in regards to shutting down the southern border through executive action.
Johnson appeared on “Hannity” to discuss the ongoing border crisis and Congress’ push to find a solution. Fox host Sean Hannity questioned the House Speaker if anything would be “done” to secure Biden’s “wide open borders” as he listed off top concerns from officials over the crisis. Johnson said that while the House previously passed HR2, otherwise known as the Secure Our Border Act, they would continue to “push it.” (RELATED: Illegal Immigrant Arrested For Alleged 25-Day ‘Terror’ Spree Including Rape, Armed Robbery)
“We never stopped working on it. We passed hr-2 almost a year ago now [and] Chuck Schumer has let it sit on the desk collecting dust. We’ll continue to push it – every piece of it, every initiative,” Johnson said. “Because, listen, now the catastrophe is having real-world consequences around the country as you know. Violent crimes, brutal murders – Laken Riley and others. Even in my home state of Louisiana [with] aggravated rape this past week by illegal aliens because Joe Biden is catching them and releasing them into the country. It’s causing an absolute catastrophic effect and it will continue, Sean, sadly. So we have to push.”
“The president has the executive authority to fix it right now,” Johnson continued. “I told him at the White House yesterday, one-on-one, and in the group. I told him, ‘Mr. President, if you just issue an executive order that reinstates remain in Mexico, sir, the border patrol – your agents told us it would reduce the flow by 70%. Almost overnight. Because the message would go out throughout the world, ‘Don’t waste your life savings on a cartel. They’re not going to be able to get you over the line. Stay where you are. Stay in Mexico, stay in a safe third country.’ He won’t do it, Sean. He told me that he didn’t have the authority to do that. I said, ‘That’s just simply not true. President Trump did it, why can’t you do it?’ He said, ‘Oh Mexico doesn’t want that.’ Well, you’re the president of the United States, you should act like it.”
Johnson previously refused to hand out additional foreign aid late last year, saying that the southern border needed to be addressed by lawmakers as well. Months later the Senate proposed a bipartisan bill, however, it was quickly shut down by Republicans to due concerns over legal loopholes and leniencies toward illegal immigrants.
Before GOP senators blocked the bill, Johnson and other Republican congressional lawmakers warned that the legislature would be “dead on arrival” if it made its way to the House. Since the turndown of the bill, lawmakers have yet to propose another solution besides HR2, which was approved by House Republicans last year.