(NewsNation) — Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, says he won’t accept “illegal immigrants just to own Biden” when discussing the president’s handling of the border crisis.
“I’m not willing to let in more illegal immigrants, just to own Biden. That is a bad stance to take,” Crenshaw said during a Wednesday appearance on “CUOMO.” “We can put things into law that force Biden’s hand.”
The White House is considering using provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by former President Donald Trump to unilaterally enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border, NewsNation Washington correspondent Kellie Meyer confirmed.
The administration, stymied by Republican lawmakers who rejected a negotiated border bill earlier this month, has been exploring options that President Joe Biden could deploy on his own without congressional approval, multiple officials and others familiar with the talks said.
But the plans are nowhere near finalized and it’s unclear how the administration would draft any such executive actions in a way that would survive the inevitable legal challenges. The officials and those familiar with the talks spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to comment on private ongoing White House discussions.
Crenshaw continues to push for change and says Congress “needs to act.”
“We actually do need new laws, and we can’t just throw our hands up and say, ‘Well, Biden won’t follow the laws.’ If we make the laws clear enough, he does have to follow them.”
The exploration of such avenues by Biden’s team underscores the pressure the president faces this election year on immigration and the border, which have been among his biggest political liabilities since he took office.
For now, the White House has been hammering congressional Republicans for refusing to act on border legislation that the GOP demanded, but the administration is also aware of the political perils that high numbers of migrants could pose for the president and is scrambling to figure out how Biden could ease the problem on his own.
NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer contributed to this report.
