By Shaolien Chen-Graf and Audrey Sawyer
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), a ranking member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement House Subcommittee, expressed concern this week in a statement regarding President Joe Biden’s comments that he could use executive power to “close the border.”
According to an article from The Hill, President Biden said Tuesday his “administration is weighing whether he has the sole power to close the southern border with Mexico should the need arise.”
During his interview with Univision’s Enrique Acevedo, Biden stated, “We’re examining whether or not I have that power” when asked about a potential executive order on immigration and border security, adding “when the border has over 5,000 people a day trying to cross … you can’t manage it, slow it up.”
Rep. Jayapal objected to Biden’s talk of using his executive power to shut down the border and limit people’s access to asylum to the U.S., commenting, “Democrats cannot continue to take pages out of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s playbook because 30 years of data shows that enforcement-only approaches do not work.”
While the Congressional member’s statements admit Jayapal’s praise for President Biden in previous efforts to support comprehensive humane immigration reform when he first came into office and in denouncing the Trump-era policies such as Remain in Mexico and Title 42, Jaypal references the more recent Biden comments as “even more disappointing.”
Congresswoman Jayapal emphasized, “What we need is for the President to continue to showcase the need for fundamental reforms to the immigration system that allow for efficient legal pathways for migrants to enter the U.S., for more resources to allow the immigration system to work, and for a clear recognition of the contributions of immigrants to our country at every level.”
Regarding modernization, Rep. Jayapal said the current immigration system has not been updated recently, citing, “The situation at the border is directly linked to the fact that this system has not been modernized in 30 years, leaving it defunct and in chaos.
“When the legal process is so backed up that it takes legal residents decades to get their children into the country, employers cannot simply hire the people needed with a backlog of two million people who have not been processed, and there are so few immigration judges that asylum seekers have to wait over eight years to have their cases heard. These people turn to actors, such as cartels, who claim that they can get them in by going to the border.”
Jayapal cited Republicans in the release, charging they have “consistently blocked even bipartisan efforts to reform the system that would allow for a path to citizenship for Dreamers and farmworkers. They oppose every solution that Democrats propose because they want to keep immigration out there as a political issue instead of solving the problem.”
Jayapal insisted the answer to relieving pressure on the border and making a more orderly, safe process is to “expand legal pathways and adequately fund the immigration system.”
Jayapal once again urged President Biden not to follow what Trump and the MAGA wing of Republicans want regarding immigration.
“It is our duty as elected officials to change and shape the conversation and not just buy into the old policies of the past. President Biden has the ability to reject this xenophobic and racist conversation that Trump and MAGA Republicans want to push forward,” the lawmaker added.
