The White House may use provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by former President Trump to enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border. The administration, stymied by Republican lawmakers who rejected a negotiated border bill this month, has been exploring options that President Biden could deploy on his own without congressional approval. The plans are nowhere near finalized and it’s unclear how the administration would draft executive actions in a way that would survive the inevitable legal challenges, the Associated Press reports. The Biden team's exploration of such avenues 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.
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. White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández stressed that “no executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected.” Arrests for illegal crossings on the U.S. border with Mexico fell by half in January from record highs in December to the third lowest month of Biden’s presidency. Officials fear those figures could eventually rise again as the November presidential election nears.
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