Biden Isn’t Winning Over Any Republican Lawmakers With His Asylum Crackdown

Republicans from Donald Trump to the congressional rank and file said the president is just trying to paper over “amnesty.”

A group of migrants walk along the border in a remote part of the Arizona desert.
Lawmakers on the left and the right have criticized President Joe Biden’s new executive order on the border. Ross D. Franklin/AP

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday to restrict asylum applications at the southern border — something Republicans have demanded for months. They’re furious.

“Everybody knows this is a farce,” Rep. Bob Good told NOTUS. “This is the president pretending to care about the border invasion that he has caused because it’s an election year.”

Republicans ranging from former President Donald Trump to congressional leaders accused Biden of signing the new order as a ploy to help him with his reelection. Despite unauthorized border crossings decreasing since their peak at the end of last year, the issue remains at the top of mind for voters, and Biden isn’t polling well. Republicans are clearly eager to scuttle the idea that this shows Biden is not the soft-on-the-border president they’ve been painting him as.