Republicans slam Biden immigration executive action as election ploy

Republicans accuse President Biden of trying to influence the 2024 election with his decision to allow undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens an easier path to seeking permanent residency, with some dubiously claiming it would create more Democratic voters sooner. from November.

Former President Trump, who said he would reverse Biden’s order if elected, said Biden was just “using” migrants.

“But he’s going to let everybody in, because you know what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to sign these people up and get them registered,” Trump said during a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon.

The cynical response the relief action announced Tuesday, which would apply to about 550,000 individuals, contains many inaccuracies.

The order simplifies the paths to regularizing their immigration status, including through work visa applications, and eliminates the need for certain migrants to leave the country to apply for permanent residence abroad – a process subject to years-long waiting periods.

But it doesn’t create an influx of hundreds of thousands of new citizens, and it certainly wouldn’t increase the pool of eligible voters before the 2024 elections.

Still, fear of an influx of Democratic voters now or in the future is a central part of the Republican Party’s resistance to Biden’s action.

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt similarly said in a statement earlier in the day that Biden was “giving amnesty and mass citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will end up voting for him and the Party.” Open Border Democrat.”

“That’s their game plan. Get as many people as possible to register to vote,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). “They don’t care about the citizens, they don’t care about these people. They are just looking for voters and they are trying [to] do as much as you can before the next election because you see the writing on the wall.”

In response to Tuberville’s comment, a House Democrat made a joke about the notoriously slow speed of the federal immigration bureaucracy.

“If only USCIS worked this fast,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), referring to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes immigration applications.

For Republicans on Capitol Hill who rejected a border compromise plan backed by Biden earlier this year, the order also serves as validation of their distrust of him on border and immigration policy.

Biden earlier this month implemented another executive action intended to crack down on border crossings, turning away migrants seeking asylum at the border for days with a high number of daily encounters. Republicans largely rejected a similar measure in a failed compromise on the border bill earlier this year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Biden is trying to “try to play both sides” with the pair of executive actions.

“The president may think our homeland security is some kind of game he can try to use for political purposes, but Americans know this amnesty plan will only encourage more illegal immigration and put Americans in danger,” Johnson said in a statement. .

Johnson also said that Biden’s action “is proof positive of the Democrats’ plan to turn illegal aliens into voters” and that he hopes the plan will be challenged in court and overturned.

At an event announcing the new measure and marking the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on Tuesday, Biden said the relief action was not a political move.

“Guys, I have no interest in doing politics on the border or immigration. I’m interested in fixing this. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again today, I will work with anyone to resolve these issues. That is my responsibility as president. That is our responsibility as Americans,” Biden said.

And the White House stressed that those eligible for aid are limited to a certain group.

“The eligible population is limited,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of Biden’s relief action at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Individuals coming in now are not eligible — so we try to give scope to that, so to speak,” Jean-Pierre said.

While Republicans largely portrayed Biden’s order as a political calculation, some drew a distinction between exactly what kind of voters would be affected by it in the upcoming election. Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) said in a post on social platform

Direct beneficiaries of Biden’s new plan will not be able to vote in the 2024 elections, although their spouses, who are US citizens, will be able to do so.

Even in the best-case scenario, voting in the 2028 presidential election would be a longshot for undocumented beneficiaries who begin their application for permanent residency immediately under the new policy.

Spouses of U.S. citizens take at least 10 months to receive their green card, and then must wait three years – and remain married – to be eligible to apply for naturalization, a process that takes an average of eight months from from the time of the order.

Accounting for a 90-day early naturalization allowance, this means the quickest time for a beneficiary to become a U.S. citizen is about 50 months — and the 2028 elections are 52 months and 20 days away.

A Republican who advocated immigration reform avoided the misleading claims of new voters when responding to Biden’s order – but still assessed that it was a political measure.

“President Biden’s latest executive order on immigration is a blatantly political move, of questionable constitutionality, in an election year,” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Florida) said in a statement.

“These executive orders are counterproductive and will do nothing to alleviate the ongoing chaos at our southern border. [Department of Homeland Security] staff are overwhelmed and Border Patrol agents can barely keep up with the flow of people, including dangerous individuals, crossing into our country.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) argued that Biden’s order contributes to policies that encourage illegal migration.

“People realize that if you can get here, President Biden will let you stay and you can get on the path to citizenship,” Cornyn said. “This has been a huge magnet and will attract even more people.”

Al Weaver, Brett Samuels and Alex Gangitano contributed reporting.