Biden to close border at 4,000 encounters per day, despite previously claiming he might not have 'power' to issue order

President Biden plans to issue an executive order to close the border when Border Patrol reaches 4,000 encounters per day, a White House source told the New York Post on Wednesday.

The administration has weighed taking action to curb the massive uptick in illegal immigration but has repeatedly claimed that Biden might not have the authority to do so.

During an interview in April with Univision's Enrique Acevedo, Biden stated that the White House was "examining whether or not" the president has the "power" under the current legislation to close down the border when encounters reached over 5,000 per day.

'[A] cheap election year ploy.'

"There's no, there's no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we're trying to work that, work through that right now," Biden told Acevedo.

Biden slammed Republican lawmakers for voting down legislation in February that he claimed would have addressed the crisis at the southern border, in part by adding more Border Patrol officers. Despite being referred to as a border bill, the legislation lumped together massive funding for military aid for Ukraine and Israel, as well as humanitarian assistance for Gaza.

In January, Biden told reporters that he had "done all I can do" to stop the wave of illegal immigration. He called on Congress to "give me the power."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated in February that "nothing good" was in the so-called border bill.

"All it did was rubber stamp what Joe Biden's been doing for the last three and a half years, all the bad stuff and none of the good stuff," Paxton stated. "The Republicans would have been basically signing on to his failed policies of letting the border be overrun."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called the bill a "steaming pile of crap."

Fox News' "The Five" cohost Jeanine Pirro said, "This bill is not a border bill, it's an immigration bill."

"This is all about making sure we have enough people to be able to process the illegals," she remarked.

Biden's planned executive order reportedly mirrors provisions proposed in the failed bill, according to the Post. It is unclear when the order will be announced.

A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the Post that the president's order would "prove" that he had the authority all along and "doesn't need Congress to pass legislation to take action on the border."

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) called Biden's move "a cheap election year ploy," telling the Post that the president "has lost all credibility on the border."

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