Biden says Border Patrol endorsed him. They say different

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President Joe Biden said the US border patrol endorsed him during Thursday’s presidential debate — but the Border Patrol union says differently.

When asked about his border patrol policy, Biden said on Thursday night that “the border patrolmen” endorsed him: "by the way the Border Patrol endorsed me, endorsed my position.”

But the Border Patrol Union, which represents those employed by US Border Patrol, says that’s not true.

“To be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden,” the Border Patrol Union said on X, moments after Biden said border patrol endorsed him.

Biden’s remark likely referred to the National Border Patrol Council’s (NBPC) endorsement of the legislative framework released by a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year, with the aim of addressing border security. The White House supported that legislation, but it died in the Senate after House Republican lawmakers made clear it would not pass the lower chamber and Donald Trump urged Republican senators to vote against it.

The ex-president repeatedly attacked his opponent over illegal immigration during Thursday night’s debate, accusing Biden of allowing unprecedented numbers to pour into the US and overwhelm social safety net programs. He argued that under Biden, “every state” had become a border state.

The bill would have granted the president the authority to shut down the asylum process if unauthorized border crossings passed a certain daily threshold. It also would have radically overhauled the asylum system itself, making it much harder for persons who crossed the border illegally to apply. Asylum seekers would also have been able to begin the process of applying while still in Mexico, a move that was aimed at driving down the attraction of crossing the border at all.

Biden eventually signed an executive order granting himself the authority to freeze the asylum system, while the other parts of the legislation died with the Senate framework.

Republicans who came out in opposition to the legislation did so by arguing that the provisions of the law allowing the president to halt the asylum process were already powers granted to the Executive Branch. They further claimed that the bill would have only a piecemeal effect on driving down illegal crossings.

But some in their party openly rejected those arguments, and accused their GOP colleagues of tanking a bill aimed at addressing border security while claiming to their constituents that the issue was their party’s top priority.

“I’m extremely disappointed in the strange maneuvering by many on the right to torpedo a potential border reform bill,” Dan Crenshaw, a border state Republican, told reporters in February.

The Texas congressman added at the time: “[I]f we have a bill, that on net significantly decreases illegal immigration, and we sabotage that? That is inconsistent with what we told our voters we would do.”

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