The executive order likely won’t survive legal scrutiny, but politically, it’s already doing its job.

Follow this authorJennifer Rubin's opinions

The administration’s logic in pursuing a legally questionable tactic is simple: What would you have us do? “For 3 years, America’s border security has been devastated by congressional Republican opposition to the law enforcement resources that President Biden has sought,” the White House explained in a memo accompanying the announcement. “For 3 years, Joe Biden has led on border security and congressional Republicans have obstructed it — all in the name of politics.” While conceding legislation is needed for a “permanent” fix (not to mention to allocate new funds), the administration argues it has been left no choice as a result of Republican obstruction.

Memories fade, but it’s worth recalling how Biden got to this point. When Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was still speaker, the White House began negotiations in September on a tough border plan as part of the shutdown fight and later in the context of the supplemental funding bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. When McCarthy got booted, negotiations shifted to the Senate, where months of negotiations spearheaded by right-wing Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) produced the toughest border bill in recent memory. Republicans killed it.

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Then, just two weeks ago, Democrats brought the immigration bill back to the floor. Republicans filibustered it. So, whatever the legal infirmities of Biden’s latest effort, Republicans are in no position to complain. They backed virtually identical measures under Trump, didn’t passed a border security bill when they held majorities in both houses of Congress and repeatedly blocked legislation that would have addressed the issue.

Immigration activists and Biden’s left flank will not be pleased with any measure that limits asylum requests. However, White House officials suggest Biden will continue to raise the necessity of comprehensive immigration reform and use executive powers to address issues that concern them (e.g., Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients). And in the meantime, if immigrants’ rights activists are seen as dissatisfied with the White House’s tough new stance, that might not be the worst thing for Biden’s general election prospects, where a large segment of voters want tougher border controls. (As a political matter, the Biden campaign will relish the irony. If he were an immigrant,........

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