The White House statement comes after a week of frantic negotiations in the Senate.

President Joe Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass a bipartisan bill to address the immigration crisis at the nation’s southern border, saying he would shut down the border the day the bill became law.

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said in a statement. “It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”

Biden’s Friday evening statement resembles a ramping up in rhetoric for the administration, placing the president philosophically in the camp arguing that the border may hit a point where closure is needed. The White House’s decision to have Biden weigh in also speaks to the delicate nature of the dealmaking, and the urgency facing his administration to take action on the border — particularly during an election year, when Republicans have used the issue to rally their base.

The president is also daring Republicans to reject the deal as it faces a make-or-break moment amid GOP fissures.

  • PugJesus@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    B-but scawwy foreigners!

    75% of this country thinks the border is in crisis. I fucking hate it.

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      If we had a political party with the courage to say “It’s not a crisis, quit falling for bullshit” that number would go down

      • PugJesus@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Not by much, I’d wager. Democrats don’t tend to sway their opinions much when the party takes a different line than the majority Dem opinion, and Republicans are too racist to change their views on the border.

        It would be nice to have a voice of sanity in the fucking country, though.

        • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          A majority of Democratic voters in the 40s and 50s thought segregation was a state issue the federal government should stay out of because they didn’t want the controversy, but some Democratic leaders saw it differently, and thank goodness they did because without them pushing the issue along with civil rights activists we never would have gotten (among other things) a voting rights act.

          It wouldn’t just be nice to have a voice of sanity, it’s the only way this issue is getting any better imo

          • PugJesus@kbin.social
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            11 months ago

            While Truman’s advocacy of civil rights in the '48 platform is definitely pivotal in terms of effecting policy, I would raise the question as to how much of the change in opinions was due to the party tack, and how much was due to the ongoing and revitalized post-WW2 civil rights movement and increasing integration and civic participation of liberal blocs in the north.

            I suppose it’s academic in the end. I would love for the Dem party to take up the issue, like I said. It’s just a ‘chicken or the egg’ question.

    • TheDoozer@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I think the border is in crisis. Our shitty policies make it incredibly and unnecessarily difficult for people to enter the country seeking asylum or a legal means of getting citizenship. I would say the camps of people stuck on the other side of the border, prey to criminals who would rape, steal, and murder (not to mention the asylum-seekers vulnerable to those they are seeking asylum from) are the biggest part of that crisis.

      So I’m not sure if I’d be considered part of that 75%, because my solution is to make the system more efficient in letting people in and started with paths to citizenship. Then there wouldn’t be masses of people at the border.

      • PugJesus@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Yeah, but when most people say “Border crisis”, they don’t mean “Holy shit refugees are in inhumane conditions, we need to help them”, they mean “I’m scared that there are too many brown people coming into MY good, white, Christian country!”

        • TheDoozer@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Oh, no, definitely agree, that’s why I say I’m not really what one would include in that 75%.

      • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        The legislation had funding for more staff and judges to be able to process asylum requests faster. The GOP got some stupid shit in there that probably wouldn’t hold up in court (typical tough guy posturing shit), but there were some good things in there too.

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          If other countries didn’t have immigration standards, I’d be European by now…

          Heck most Americans don’t know that before the end of Roe V. Wade America had one of the most liberal Abortion Policies in the world… the amount of Pro-Choicers fighting 20 week bans who’s heads would explode if they ever learned 6 week bans was the norm for most of the developed world.

    • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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      11 months ago

      No no, scary brown people

      They’re perfectly fine with white foreigners that either speak English or have enough money/power they don’t care.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        No one ever has a problem with the Canadian Immigrants, even though Ted Cruz did more wrong for this nation than Jose wokring under the table at the farms for under minimum wage