White House eyes executive action on border with powers used by Trump

The administration has reportedly been exploring options that President Joe Biden could deploy on his own without congressional approval.

The White House is considering using provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by former President Donald Trump to unilaterally enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

The administration, stymied by Republican lawmakers who rejected a negotiated border bill earlier this month, has been exploring options that President Joe Biden could deploy on his own without congressional approval, multiple officials and others familiar with the talks said. But the plans are nowhere near finalized and it's unclear how the administration would draft any such executive actions in a way that would survive the inevitable legal challenges. 

The officials and those familiar with the talks spoke on condition of anonymity to comment on private ongoing White House discussions.

The exploration of such avenues by President Biden's team underscores the pressure the president faces this election year on immigration and the border, which have been among his biggest political liabilities since he took office. For now, the White House has been hammering congressional Republicans for refusing to act on border legislation that the GOP demanded — but the administration is also aware of the political perils that high numbers of migrants could pose for the president and is scrambling to figure out how President Biden could ease the problem on his own.

White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández stressed that "no executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected."