Republican leaders eye border security deal in face of crisis as a winning issue in 2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., predicted that Republicans will win the House, Senate, and White House in 2024 largely because of the Biden administration's handling of the crisis at the southern border as GOP congressional leaders push for inclusion of border security measures in a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel. 

"I do believe, in large measure, because of this issue, I do think we’re going to have a change in the White House," Johnson said on Wednesday during his trip with a group of more than 60 lawmakers to the border in Texas.

"I think we’re going to have a Republican president. I think we’re going to win the Senate and we’re going to expand the republican majority in the House as well," he added.

Former Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan said Republicans in the House and Senate must deliver on border security if they want to win in 2024.

"There's been no greater time, they've never had this much leverage right now – to force the Democrats to actually reverse course on their open border policies," Morgan said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. "If they fail to take advantage of this and if they don't pass meaningful border security changes with this new budget proposal and if there's no meaningful changes on Southwest border, the Republicans are going to actually own this crisis in this last election year in 2024."

Johnson told reporters on Wednesday any foreign aid package that Congress considers for passage “better begin by defending America’s national security."

"We want to get the border closed and secured, first, and we want to make sure that we reduce non-defense discretionary spending," he said. "The point is the longer we wait, the longer we delay the closure and security of the border, the greater the crisis and the problem," he added.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, one of the congressmen who accompanied Johnson on the trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, said Republicans have to push Democrats and the White House to secure the border now, rather than wait for a possible Republican president in 2025.

"Now is the time to make sure America is safe and we do that by taking a down payment on border security in '24 with this team and we come back for the rest when we win back the White House in '25," said Gonzales, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

House and Senate Republicans are advocating for any foreign aid package to include a significant portion of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which passed the GOP-led House in May. The legislation would enact several reforms to immigration law, including "imposing limits on asylum eligibility and requiring employers to use an electronic system to verify the employment eligibility of new employees," according to the official bill summary.

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., predicted that Biden will suffer politically if he blocks border security measures from the foreign aid package and doesn't secure the border.

"This comes at a great political cost to him, and he is going to lose the election on this single issue, if nothing else, and there's lots to pick on," he said.

On the border trip, House Republicans noted that there have been about 7 million border encounters with immigrants at the border under Biden. December 2023 reportedly set a new monthly record at more than 300,000 encounters at the southern border alone. 

Johnson argued on Wednesday that Biden has full authority to fix most of the problems at the border on his own and “stop this madness." He called on Biden to reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy that he ended as soon as he took office in 2021. Under the terminated policy, asylum seekers who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border had to wait in Mexico for their court date.

The Louisiana Republican also urged the Biden administration to end its "catch and release" policy, which allows illegal immigrants encountered at the border to be released into U.S. communities. Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to end the policy but it has stalled in the Democratic-led chamber.

The House Homeland Security committee has started the process of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border. The first hearing is set for Wednesday of next week.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said the House GOP is pursuing the right strategy by pursuing impeachment while the border negotiations continue.

"We could go through the numbers and statistics, but we don't need to, people know the problem, and they want something done about it," she said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show on Wednesday. “It’s the right thing to do to impeach him while you're pushing and holding the White House accountable for their absolute failure at the border. This is absolutely an invasion."

Bobby Charles, a former assistant Secretary of State in the Bush administration, shared a similar view on the House GOP impeaching Mayorkas while border negotiations take place.

"There's no conflict because we're a country of laws, not people, that we have miscreants at the top of certain agencies, departments, or anywhere in the government has no effect whatsoever on whether or not the law should be enforced," he said. "The law should be enforced, the money should be appropriated, and it should be properly applied to protect the border, regardless of who sits at the top of that agency."

The White House responded to the House GOP’s criticism of Biden during the border visit on Wednesday.

“Instead of joining the Biden Administration and members of both parties in the Senate to find common ground, [House Speaker Mike Johnson] is continuing to block President Biden’s proposed funding to hire thousands of new Border Patrol agents, hire more asylum officers and immigration judges, provide local communities hosting migrants additional grant funding, and invest in cutting edge technology that is critical to stopping deadly fentanyl from entering our country,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.