Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) jabbed President Joe Biden on Thursday over his consideration of issuing an executive order that would make it harder for immigrants to seek asylum at the southern border. The order would close the border daily after 8,500 crossings.
“Doing Trump impressions isn’t how we beat Trump,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a post on X in response to Biden’s potential executive action. “Seeking asylum is a legal right of all people.
“In the face of authoritarian threat, we should not buckle on our principles – we should commit to them,” she added. “The mere suggestion is outrageous and the President should refuse to sign it.”
Considerations of the executive order surfaced in reports Wednesday. Sources close to the deliberations told NBC News that Biden is eyeing the use of the Immigration and Nationality Act, legislation that former President Donald Trump enacted and utilized during his presidency to crack down on unlawful border crossings.
If Biden were to implement the executive order, it would raise the bar for immigrants’ asylum screening at the southern border, restricting immigrants who are “detrimental to the interests of the United States,” the Daily Mail reported.
Biden’s consideration of border restrictions comes as his progressive base and Democratic lawmakers’ frustrations with the administration continue to brew over matters such as immigration and the Israel-Hamas war.
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A White House official told NBC News that while the administration is weighing options to deal with the border crisis, it has yet to confirm if any will come to fruition.
“The administration spent months negotiating in good faith to deliver the toughest and fairest bipartisan border security bill in decades,” a White House spokesperson told the outlet in a statement. “Congressional Republicans chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security. … No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected.”