Mike Johnson Mocks Border Patrol on Fox News

House Speaker Mike Johnson sparked laughter from Fox News host Laura Ingraham after suggesting the National Border Patrol Council had come out in support of a major bipartisan immigration and asylum bill because it could result in a pay rise for their members.

The bill forms part of an $118 billion package unveiled on Monday that contains $20 billion in new funding for border security, along with additional security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

The proposal sparked an angry response from many Republicans, with Speaker Johnson claiming it would be "dead on arrival" at the House of Representatives, while Donald Trump called it "nothing more than a highly sophisticated trap."

However, it was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing 18,000 Border Patrol agents, which has frequently critiqued President Joe Biden's handling of illegal immigration and endorsed Trump in 2020.

Brandon Judd, the council's president, said in a statement: "While not perfect, the Border Act of 2024 is a step in the right direction and is far better than the current status quo. This is why the National Border Patrol Council endorses this bill and hopes for its quick passage."

Interviewing Johnson on Fox News following the endorsement, Ingraham said: "The Border Patrol union has come out and said the bill is better than the status quo. Does that affect your thinking on this?

The Speaker replied: "I think it does have something to do with the pay structure that's in the bill. I understand they are desperate for measures that will assist."

This caused Ingraham to burst out laughing. A 17-second clip of the exchange was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the 'Acyn' account which posts U.S. politics footage.

Newsweek has reached out to the National Border Patrol Council for comment by email.

The 370-page bipartisan immigration agreement was negotiated by Republican Sen. James Lankford, Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent and former Democrat.

Its provisions include a shutdown of the border should migrant crossings hit 5,000 in a week or 8,500 in a day, meaning migrants who arrived after this time would be unable to request asylum and be deported. The legislation also includes provisions to boost the number and base pay of some border control staff, raises the eligibility threshold for applying for asylum and provided for an additional 50,000 immigration visas for each of the next five years.

Notably the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' asylum division would be quadrupled, from its current strength of 760 asylum officers, with the base pay for general schedule positions rising by 15 percent.

Speaking to Newsweek, Sinema defended the agreement, commenting: "The last three presidents have all indicated very clearly, so that's Obama, Trump and Biden, have all said numerous times that we have to make changes to asylum policy so that we can stop the exploitation that's currently occurring."

The Biden administration has said it would veto any move, as suggested by several Republican lawmakers, to pass the aid to Israel as a separate bill without the additional support to Ukraine and immigration reform.

Addressing Newsweek, the Office of Management and Budget, which is charged with implementing President Biden's policy agenda, said: "The security of Israel should be sacred, not a political game.

"The Administration strongly opposes this ploy which does nothing to secure the border, does nothing to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's aggression, fails to support the security of American synagogues, mosques, and vulnerable places of worship, and denies humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are women and children."

Update 2/6/24, 5:41 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add context.