Politics and views in the United States.

President Biden signs an executive order aimed at limiting border crossings. Republicans consider legislative action in response to Trump's guilty verdict. And Attorney General Merrick Garland defends the Justice Department.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

I've come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refuse to do, take the necessary steps to secure our border.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order reducing the number of asylum seekers the U.S. will allow across the border daily.

The order uses a section of the law former President Donald Trump used in his highly restrictive migration policies.

But it comes after Republicans abandoned a bipartisan border security bill at the direction of the former president.

The order restricts the number of migrants who can claim asylum once illegal crossings outside entry points hit 2,500 per day, but it exempts unaccompanied minors.

California Democrat Pete Aguilar says that approach is too one-sided.

I'm concerned that this is just the enforcement-only side of the strategy, but I'm confident that we can continue to lift up programs like temporary protected status, like support for those with DACA.

Crossings have drastically declined this year due to crackdowns in Mexico that are stopping tens of thousands.

Experts call this unsustainable, and advocates like Rosa Santana with Envision Freedom Fund call Biden's executive order a misstep in addressing the long-term crisis.

So this is very inhumane.

You know that people are not going to be able to seek asylum, which is a right that everyone has, to seek a better life.

And we know how difficult it is in so many different countries.

The Republicans' charge the executive order is not strong enough and should have come sooner.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is again threatening to impeach Biden over the border in spite of opposition from Republican leadership.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is threatening legislative action in response to Trump's felony conviction in New York.

Congress has no authority over state courts, but since the guilty verdict, Johnson and other Republicans have sharply attacked what they call biased prosecutions by activist DAs.

Johnson would use Congress's power over the federal Justice Department.

We're looking at various approaches to what can be done here through the appropriations process, through the legislative process, through bills that we'll be advancing through our committees and putting on the floor for passage and also through oversight.

That comes as Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the Justice Department to a House Judiciary Committee.

Garland told lawmakers that baseless attacks and conspiracy theories undermine federal law enforcement officers.

He called the attacks unfounded and unprecedented, but said even threats to hold him in contempt won't change what they do.

These attacks have not and they will not influence our decision making.

I view contempt as a serious matter, but I will not jeopardize the ability of our prosecutors and agents to do their jobs effectively in future investigations.

Last month, two Republican-led committees voted to hold Garland in contempt for not turning over audio recordings from the federal probe into President Biden's handling of classified records.

Finally, the state of Wisconsin is bringing felony charges against three Trump allies for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, the fifth battleground state to do so.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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