On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) said that President Joe Biden can shut down the border unilaterally and should by doing what President Obama did with Title 8.
After referencing Biden saying that the administration is determining if he has the legal authority to shut down the border through executive action, co-host Jonathan Lemire asked, “Is your understanding the President does have the authority to do this, and do you think he should?”
Cuellar answered, “Yes, he has the authority, and yes, he should. I’ll tell you what, look, when Trump did Title 42, he signed an executive order based on a statute entitled Title 42. We now have — for years, we’ve had Title 8 expedited removals that President Obama used without an executive order, but he can use that. He can’t do everything, but there are certain things he can do in an executive order. And if somebody files a lawsuit, we’ll see what happens at that time.”
He added, “We added a couple of billion dollars to Homeland Security, more Border Patrol agents, technology, … and we ought to make sure that we don’t stop. Now that the numbers are going down, let’s continue using resources, and, again, the ones that are supposed to come in, let them come in. But the ones that are not supposed to be coming in, you go ahead and hold them and detain them, and then deport them back to their countries. That’s the way Secretary Jeh Johnson [did] it. And I know Secretary Mayorkas can also do that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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