What is the state of Biden’s union?
Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum preview President Biden’s State of the Union address as dignitaries and guests enter the House chamber.
President Biden on Tuesday used his State of the Union address to double down on calls for Congress to pass a mass amnesty for illegal immigrants, while touting a recent drop in migrant numbers at the southern border from the historic highs seen during his administration – and was met by yells to “secure the border” by some Republicans.
“Let’s also come together on immigration and make it a bipartisan issue once again,” he said.
Biden’s administration has been rocked by a migrant crisis at the southern border now into its third year, with a record 2.3 million migrant encounters and nearly 600,000 “gotaways” in FY 2022. In December there was a record 251,000 migrant encounters alone.
Republicans have battered the administration over the crisis, blaming the administration’s rolling back of Trump-era border security policies and interior enforcement. But the administration has blamed a hemisphere-wide crisis and has hit out at Republicans for not agreeing to funding and reform measures proposed by the administration.
LIVE UPDATES: STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS 2023
US President Joe Biden speaks during a State of the Union address with US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, right, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (Photographer: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On Tuesday Biden touted increases in Border Patrol staffing and also increased fentanyl seizures at the border, which officials have said shows that apprehension is getting better.
“We now have a record number of personnel working to secure the border, arresting 8,000 human smugglers and seizing over 23,000 pounds of fentanyl in just the last several months,” he said.
He also noted border measures…
