Joe Biden Blasted by Democrats for New Southern Border Move

President Joe Biden’s latest executive order, aimed at heightened security along the U.S.-Mexico border, has triggered criticism from progressives who argue the new restrictions will harm migrants and fail to allay immigration strife.

With roughly five months until Election Day, Biden announced on Tuesday that he was signing an order that limits the number of migrants who can seek asylum at the southern border. The mandate is the strictest stance that the president has taken on immigration and mimics an order signed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, also known as the “Muslim ban,” which was blocked in federal court.

Border security remains a core issue for lawmakers ahead of the November election. After a bipartisan bill pushing to increase security measures was blocked by Republicans in the Senate earlier this year, Biden and the Democrats pointed fingers at their GOP colleagues for standing in the way of enacting change. On Tuesday, the president said that “Republicans have left me no choice,” and that he had to take his own steps to “gain control of the border.”

President Joe Biden on Tuesday discusses an executive order pertaining to the U.S.-Mexico border, at the White House in Washington, D.C. Biden’s order has received attacks from both sides of the aisle.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

What Some Democrats Are Saying

Leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said in a joint statement Tuesday evening that Biden’s order was “deeply concerning” to its members because “such measures impede progress and harm migrants fleeing violence and persecution, who otherwise would present a credible and meritorious case for asylum.”

“Enforcement-only strategies have repeatedly proven ineffective and only create more chaos at the border,” continued the statement, which was signed by Democratic Representative Nanette Barragán, chair of the Hispanic Caucus, as well as caucus Deputy Chair Adriano Espaillat and caucus Whip Sylvia Garcia. The three are also members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus, told CNN Tuesday afternoon that what Biden “is doing, and I have been clear with the White House for months, that this is not the right way to go because, A, it’s not going to solve the situation at the border.”

“The only way to do that is to actually create more legal pathways to modernize our immigration system, to make sure we are getting resources for immigration judges and asylum officers and border patrol folks,” Jayapal added. “Those are the kinds of things that would actually make a difference.”

Newsweek on Tuesday reached out to the White House for comment on the pushback from progressives.

Centrist members of the Democratic Party also expressed disappointment in Biden’s order, but argued that the measure does not go far enough to address border security.

“This order is an overdue step, but our Southern Border is still not secure. We’ve long demanded President Biden change course and empower the Border Patrol, and he’s finally acting and listening to the law enforcement agents in the field, like we’ve been telling him to do,” wrote Representatives Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Jared Golden of Maine, Mary Peltola of Alaska and Don Davis of North Carolina, in a joint statement Tuesday.

Daggers From Republicans

Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, characterized Biden’s order as nothing more than a “political stunt” and said the president was taking action much too late.

“From his first day in office, Biden has worked to implement a failed open border agenda which created this historic humanitarian and national security catastrophe,” read a statement from Johnson and other House GOP leaders, including Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

“He has turned every American community into a border community and opened our country to violent criminals, terrorists, cartels, and poisonous drugs,” the lawmakers added.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that Biden’s order was “like turning a garden hose on a five-alarm fire. And the American people are not fools. They know that this play is too little, too late.”

Ahead of Biden signing the executive order, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday morning that the president’s actions were “for amnesty, not border security.”

“The border invasion and migrant crime will not stop until Crooked Joe Biden is deported from the White House,” Leavitt added.