Senators weighed in on whether or not President Biden ought to take government motion on the southern border to deal with the continued migrant surge, with some lawmakers saying it is Congress’ accountability to cross laws.
“The president needs to address the most pressing national security issue we have in the country today, which is the southern border,” Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, instructed Fox News. “I would hope he would change his current policies, which have created this catastrophe at our southern border, and do something. He’s got the powers at his disposable to do it.”
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But Sen. Ben Cardin mentioned Congress, not the president, should resolve the border disaster.
“We need to pass the legislation that was worked out between Sen. [James] Lankford and Sen. [Chris] Murphy,” the Maryland Democrat mentioned. “Congress needs to act. It’s our responsibility. I want to see that bill passed.”
![President Biden visits the southern border](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/02/1200/675/Biden-border.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
President Biden is scheduled to go to the southern border on Thursday following the Senate’s failure to cross a bipartisan border safety deal earlier this month. The chief government has thought of government motion to curb the continued disaster. (Getty Images)
Republicans aggressively criticized a border safety deal when it was launched earlier this month, main it to die within the Senate. The long-awaited invoice would have allotted $20 billion to immigration enforcement to rent asylum declare officers and Border Patrol brokers, supplied hundreds of thousands towards border wall reinforcement and given extra authority to the president and the administration to shut the border.
The failure to cross the deal led Biden to contemplate government motion to deal with the continued border disaster.
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“The Republicans are being obstinate, obdurate, in their opposition to legislation passing,” Sen. Ed Markey instructed Fox News. “That’s sad.”
“To the extent to which now the president has to contemplate actions that he can take using his inherent authority, then I await what proposal that he has, but it’s only reluctantly, in the absence of a bipartisan approach that the president wanted to see put in place in the first place,” the Massachusetts Democrat mentioned.
![Senators across the political aisle](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/02/1200/675/senators-thumb-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Senators thought of whether or not President Biden ought to take government motion on the southern border following the Senate’s failure to cross a bipartisan border safety deal. (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)
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But Sen. Roger Wicker mentioned Biden ought to have taken motion to resolve the border disaster way back.
“I think the president should enforce the law, and he has not been doing that,” the Mississippi Republican mentioned. “He’s been allowing people in by the millions.”
The southern border has confronted report numbers of migrant encounters beneath the Biden administration, together with over 2.4 million encounters throughout fiscal 2023, a pointy uptick from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, in accordance with Customs and Border Protection information. In December, encounters skyrocketed to a report 302,000.
![Migrants crossing into the U.S.](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/09/1200/675/F6e4fyTWcAABUlx-copy.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
The Biden administration has overseen a report variety of migrant encounters on the southern border. (Fox News)
“President Biden’s committed to doing what we have to do to both protect national security and reform our broken immigration system,” Sen. Chris Coons instructed Fox News. The Delaware Democrat added that he was disillusioned the bipartisan border safety deal failed, however mentioned Biden ought to step in.
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Executive motion “may be the only option that President Biden has,” he mentioned. “It will not have a strong legal standing. It may be immediately suspended in the courts, but we have to do something to make sure we do not have a national security threat at our southern border.”
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned Biden had no plans to concern government motion throughout his Thursday go to to Brownsville, Texas. She mentioned the most effective answer to repair the “broken immigration system” would have been if Republicans had “moved forward with the bipartisan deal that came out of the Senate.”
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![Migrants at the southern border](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/10/1200/675/GettyImages-1712266319.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Senators agreed the southern border disaster must be addressed, however some lawmakers felt it is Congress’ accountability to behave. (Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg through Getty Images)
Sen. John Fetterman equally criticized Republicans.
“Our party showed up to support [the deal] and address the border and one party walked away from it,” the Pennsylvania Democrat mentioned. “I do believe we have a crisis at the border.”
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He mentioned he did not know whether or not Biden ought to take government motion.
“We need a deal, and I know the president believes as I do that we need to address the border,” Fetterman mentioned. “We are going to address it.”
Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.