Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined former US President Donald Trump and Republican critics to denounce the contentious Senate border deal that President Joe Biden described as the “toughest” set of reforms. “No laws need to be passed” to halt the US border crisis, Musk, posted on X, calling it “undeniable” that Biden has pursued an “open border” policy.
“All that is needed is an executive order to require proof before granting an asylum hearing,” the SpaceX CEO said on Friday. “That is how it used to be.” The still-under-wraps agreement, if passed, would reportedly trigger partial or full border closures if illegal crossings exceed 4,000 per day, in effect, permitting 1.5 million or more new migrants into the country each year.
No laws need to be passed. All that is needed is an executive order to require proof before granting an asylum hearing. That is how it used to be.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2024
On Saturday, Donald Trump underlined his opposition to a bipartisan immigration plan that Biden has promised to use to “shut down” the border with Mexico if it becomes overwhelmed. With immigration one of the hottest electoral issues in what increasingly looks like a Trump-Biden rematch for the White House this year, the fate of the bill has become a high-stakes battleground.
Biden, threw his weight behind the proposed bill on Friday, insisting it would usher in the “toughest” ever set of border reforms. “It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law,” he said in a statement.
My statement on President Biden’s endorsement of the Senate border deal:President Biden falsely claimed yesterday he needs Congress to pass a new law to allow him to close the southern border, but he knows that is untrue.
As I explained to him in a letter late last year, and…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 27, 2024
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, said in an open letter Friday that any such bill adopted by the Senate would be “dead in the water” and never get passed by the House. “They’re blaming it on me, I said, ‘That’s OK, blame it on me, please,'” Trump said Saturday. “I’d rather have no bill than a bad bill.”
As Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the federal government engage in a standoff over control over the border, Trump said he would give the state his “full support” and “deploy all necessary military and law enforcement resources to seal up the final section of the border. The deal being negotiated in Congress carries high stakes. In addition to addressing Americans’ concerns about the huge influx of migrants arriving via Mexico, it intends to provide military aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
(With agency inputs)
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