Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who opted in October to run as an independent instead of continuing his candidacy for the Democrat nomination, said Wednesday that President Joe Biden has the authority to stop the border crisis “overnight” without legislation from Congress.
Kennedy shared his sentiment in an interview at the southern border with News Nation correspondent Ali Bradley.
If President Biden wanted to stop this, he could stop it overnight. https://t.co/InSvvnbUgo
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) February 7, 2024
“How confident would you be in the presidency to be able to get legislation across? Right now, Congress is in gridlock?” Bradley asked, seemingly referencing the pro-migration border bill that collapsed soon after its text was released Sunday.
“I don’t need legislation. If President Biden wanted to stop this, he could stop it overnight. He could complete this fence,” Kennedy said. “I’m not going to need legislation. I’m going to do this by executive order, and I’m going to do it on day one.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testifies before a House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
His viewpoint mirrors arguments from conservative lawmakers who have pointed out that Biden could address the migrant crisis by reversing executive orders he has taken, which they contend are responsible for the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States.
At a press conference Tuesday, where seven Republican senators expressed their opposition to the bill, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Biden caused the “deliberate” crisis with three executive moves during his first week in office:
He inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years, and in his first week as president, he halted construction on the border wall, he reinstated the disastrous policy of catch and release, and he pulled out of the unbelievably successful Remain in Mexico agreement. That caused this explosion. It also means Joe Biden could solve it tomorrow. How would he solve it tomorrow? By reversing those three decisions and you would get once again a secure border.
Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and J.D. Vance (R-OH) echoed Cruz’s argument in the remarks at Tuesday’s press conference.
Similarly, Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake told Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Saturday over the weekend that Biden could use laws that are already on the books to secure the border.
“Go back to those executive orders – the laws that are already there – and secure the border,” Lake said. “President Trump could do this in a week or less but this is a … problem that was created by design by Joe Biden and the Democrats. And I hate to constantly do that and say, ‘Oh, it’s Joe Biden’s fault,’ but it is.”
In all, Biden has taken “60 plus executive actions… that have dramatically expanded catch and release, limited deportations, and allowed illegal immigrants to exploit asylum,” Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement on Friday. Hinson argued that if Biden “really cared about securing the border, he would undo” those orders.
Polling shows that more Americans are in favor of border security than are against it. A YouGov survey of more than 40,000 adults conducted on January 29 found that 50 percent of respondents were in favor of building a southern border wall, while just 33 percent were opposed to erecting a wall.
