Biden tells governors he's eyeing executive action on immigration

President Joe Biden told the nations governors on Friday that hes exploring what executive actions he can take to address migration across the southern border after a bipartisan deal collapsed in Congress this month He seemed to express frustration at the limits of his authority to act unilaterally Biden hosted members of the National Governors Association in the East Room where he implored them to urge their representatives in Congress to resurrect the bipartisan proposal that collapsed within 48 hoursHe also sharply criticized Republicans for backing away from the agreement after former President Donald Trump lobbied in opposition to the deal Later during a private question and answer session with the governors he indicated he was looking at what his options are for doing something by executive order Over time our laws and our resources havent kept up with our immigration system and its broken Biden told the governors lamenting that petty politics intervened to kill the dealUtah Governor Spencer Cox the Republican chair of the association told reporters later that Biden didnt specify what actions he is considering but he said the president noted that he was confronting the limits of what he can do without Congress He did say that he has been working with his attorneys trying to understand what executive action would be upheld in the courts and would be constitutional and that he seemed a little frustrated that he was not getting answers from attorneys that he felt he could take the kind of actions that he wanted to Cox saidColorado Governor Jared Polis Democratic vicechair of the governors group said governors got a general sense that theyre looking into whatever they can do on the executive side Again keeping our expectations realistic thats going to be more limited than a congressional solution Polis said Biden cited federal courts overruling some of former President Donald Trumps immigration actions and a desire to avoid a similar fate with any action he took And so there was a frustration that that would occur under under his leadership as well under any president absent a change in the law Polis said A lot of the steps we need to take simply arent legal under current lawCox added He mentioned the ability to declare an emergency at the border what would that look like could he do something like that It was just kind of a general refrain when pushing back on you need to do more and him saying my attorneys tell me I cant do more Among the actions under consideration by Biden is invoking authorities outlined in Section 212f of the Immigration and Nationality Act which gives a president broad leeway to block entry of certain immigrants into the United States if it would be detrimental to the national interest Trump the likely GOP candidate to face off against Biden this fall repeatedly leaned on the 212f power while in office including his controversial ban on travellers from Muslimmajority nationsBiden rescinded that ban on his first day in office through executive order How Biden would deploy that power to deal with his own immigration problems is being considered and it could be used in a variety of ways according to three people familiar with the discussions For example the ban could kick in when border crossings hit a certain number That echoes a provision in the Senate border deal which would have activated expulsions of migrants if the number of illegal border crossings reached above 5000 daily for a fiveday averageThe people familiar with the talks spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to comment on private ongoing White House discussions Cox noted that as hes pressed Biden to act unilaterally ultimately more comprehensive solutions will depend on Congress Theres some disagreement on how much the president can do and cant do and I pushed back on the president on that he said But we I think theres also general consensus that the Congress does have to do something He said if Congress cant back the comprehensive deal then perhaps pieces of it like boosting money for border patrol agents and asylum officers could be tacked on to coming spending billsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever