Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, reacted Wednesday to President Biden's executive order on illegal immigration as border crossings continue to surge ahead of the 2024 presidential election. De La Cruz told "Fox & Friends" that the executive action was taken because Biden's poll numbers are dropping and he's losing Hispanic voters in the state of Texas.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SAY THE US-MEXICO BORDER IS A BIG PROBLEM

MONICA DE LA CRUZ: It shows that Joe Biden is losing at the polls. And most importantly, he's losing the Hispanics all around the state of Texas, especially in the border counties like mine. This is why Joe Biden, finally, finally, after three years of allowing chaos into our country, has decided to do the bare minimum…as a mother myself, my heart breaks to hear about these children, who are coming through the border with cartels, who are raped, who are sex trafficked. It is horrific that President Biden is now incentivizing the continuation of sex trafficking of children. It's horrific. 

Biden and migrants

President Biden spoke positively about mass migration during a recent interview on a Spanish-speaking radio show. (Biden photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images, Migrant caravan photo by Jose Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The White House on Tuesday announced long-awaited executive actions to stop illegal immigrants at the southern border claiming asylum if crossings reach a certain level -- a move coming just months before the November election and that could soon see a legal challenge from activists.

"Today I'm moving past Republican obstruction and using executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border," Biden said in a speech on Tuesday afternoon, accusing Republicans of refusing to secure the border.

Biden is issuing a presidential proclamation that will temporarily suspend the entry of non-citizens across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days, officials said. That will stay in effect until 14 days after there has been a seven-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border. Officials said it would make it easier for immigration officers to quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the U.S.

In the last 24 hours at the border, sources tell Fox there were 5,200 encounters, and it has averaged over 5,000 every day for the past week. There were 179,725 encounters at the southern border in April, compared to 211,992 in April 2023, and 189,357 in March. While those numbers are lower than highs seen in 2022 and 2023, they still remain high compared to pre-2021 numbers.

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Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.