Republicans used the issue the immigration to try and divide us from each other, and now, on the record, opposing the toughest border reform bill, the toughest border security bill in decades. Only the Democrats support pathways to citizenship, support expanding legal pathways into the country, and a tough border law. And right now, there’s only one party that can deliver that. I think the president and Democrats should go on the offense because the vast majority of the country believes that we should have robust legal immigration, but they want tighter control of the border. MURPHY: What we also know is that under Donald Trump’s presidency, crossings at the border were at 10-year high, and this is exactly why. I could cite the latest Quinnipiac, but there’s been poll after poll showing an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of how President Biden has handled the border and we’ve also seen the flow over the border dramatically increased under the president. KARL: But you know that - you’ve seen poll after poll. Republicans have made it absolutely crystal clear, they want the border to be a mess. And Republicans have made it very clear that they have no interest in coming to the table in the immigration and border reform, and frankly, had we had this conversation a year ago, the calculation would have been no different. It, as expected, was blocked by the courts because he needs, he needs legislative action. And the president instituted a very tough new regulation that does stop people at the border, does the asylum calculation. MURPHY: It changes the calculus of (INAUDIBLE) coming to the country. KARL: It didn’t - it didn’t tighten the asylum rules the way yours did, did it? MURPHY: No, it was also an asylum reform bill, right? And reforming the asylum. KARL: But wait a minute, that bill was to provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented citizens, residents here in the country. I don’t think he can do that by executive action. He can’t conjure $20 billion with an executive order that that bill gave him to shut down the border in between the ports of entry. What I can tell you is that the bipartisan bill had $20 billion of new resources. MURPHY: I - listen, I can’t tell you whether President Biden is going to move forward on executive action. KARL: So, we’re going to see to him - I mean, he did, as we understand it, when the National Governors Association was in town, he told the governors he was considering executive action so that you - that there’s nothing he’s going to do except talk about the bill that the Republicans balked. Now, the reality is President Biden needs that legislation because it is just not true that he has the existing authority to issue executive actions that get the border under control. It helps them politically, and polls show that if Democrats just tell that story, if the president tells that story, Republicans’ political advantage on the border is erased. Donald Trump and the Republicans decided that they want the border to be chaotic. It will give the president new powers to get the border under control, and Donald Trump killed it. The fact of the matter is, we did achieve a bipartisan compromise. I think Democrats need to go on the offense on this question of controlling the border. MURPHY: Well, first, I was very glad to see the president go to the border. Can you give us a sense of what is under consideration, what he’ll - he may do? KARL: With Congress deadlocked on the issue that you worked so hard on, we’ve heard that the president is considering executive action of some kind.
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