(NewsNation) — Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Sunday that he remains opposed to the bipartisan Senate immigration deal that was blocked in February when it was criticized by former President Trump.
Johnson said on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” that additional legislation isn’t necessary.
“It’s not talked about much but the Supreme Court in 2018 said that current law exudes deference to the executive president. President Trump used that executive authority to secure the border. President Biden used that exact same executive authority to open it back up. So he had the executive authority, we didn’t need a border bill but we would have been happy to strengthen the authority,” Johnson said.
Under the initial proposal, migrants would not be able to apply for asylum at all if illegal border crossings reach certain numbers. The policy was similar to one first used by President Donald Trump. Known as Title 42, it justified the quick expulsion of migrants from the country in the name of stopping the spread of COVID-19.
The bill proposed a similar expulsion authority if the number of migrant encounters tallied by Customs and Border Protection reaches 4,000 a day over a five-day average across the Southern border. Once the number of encounters reaches 5,000, expulsions would automatically take effect.
Johnson accused Biden of wanting to “flood” the U.S. with migrants because “they will eventually vote for Democrats.”
The senator, without evidence, also accused an unnamed non-governmental organization (NGO) of instructing migrants to vote for Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
“We know that an NGO, you know that some American taxpayers are funding some of these NGOs, are literally giving the migrants before they come to the U.S. a piece of paper that says ‘When you get to America, vote for Joe Biden.’ So I think it’s pretty obvious what the Democrats trying to do here.”