In a heated exchange at a White House press briefing, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy questioned White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the 10,000 individuals who illegally crossed the border “in a single day.” The discussion quickly escalated as Jean-Pierre attempted to respond, sparking a verbal disagreement between the two.
Verbal Duel
Doocy posed the question regarding illegal border crossings, prompting Jean-Pierre to begin her response before halting herself and engaging in a tense back-and-forth with Doocy. The clash was marked by interruptions and frustration as the press secretary tried to address the issue.
Amidst the spat, Jean-Pierre emphasized that President Joe Biden has taken significant steps regarding immigration. This statement followed the administration’s recent expansion of the temporary protected status program for Venezuelans, a move supported by various blue-state officials grappling with an influx of immigrants.
Border Control Measures and Challenges
The verbal altercation came on the heels of Border Patrol data that reveals more than 215,908 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported evading capture after illegally entering the southwest border in August. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott deployed the Texas National Guard to the southern border, citing the federal government’s failure to adequately protect Texans from disruptions, human traffickers, and drug-related fatalities.
What the Experts Told Us: Time to ‘Raise The Bar’ At The Border
Daniel Di Martino, a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Columbia University, whose research focuses on migration, told 19FortyFive that the number of people attempting to “cross the southern border is that there’s a correct perception that if you claim, without any evidence or story, that you’re persecuted in your home country, you will be let into the United States.
Di Martino, who is also a Graduate Fellow with The Manhattan Institute think tank, argued that the US “need[s] to raise the bar for persecution claims at the border before people are let in and we need to more than double the number of immigration judges to deal with millions of pending applications.
“The goal to secure the border should be detaining everyone until their asylum case is decided, and that can only be done if we can reduce the wait time from over 5 years to a couple months.”
Illegal Immigration Crisis Explained
The surge in migration is not limited to the U.S.-Mexico border; it’s a regional issue affecting the Western Hemisphere. Dire conditions in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, along with misinformation spread by smugglers, are believed to be driving factors in the unprecedented levels of migration.
In a significant test for the Biden administration’s immigration strategy, the number of migrants apprehended after illegally crossing the southern U.S.-Mexico border has surged to near-record levels in September, according to unpublished federal data obtained by CBS News.
Border Patrol agents detained approximately 140,000 migrants in the first 20 days of September, averaging about 6,900 apprehensions per day. This marks a substantial 60% increase from the daily average of 4,300 in July. The agency is on track to reach over 210,000 migrant apprehensions this month, potentially surpassing previous all-time monthly highs in December and May 2022.
This spike in illegal border crossings poses a significant setback to the Biden administration’s efforts to deter unauthorized entries, disrupting policies intended to steer migrants towards legal migration programs and impose stricter asylum rules on those entering unlawfully.
The surge in migration has strained federal and local resources, leading to overcrowding in facilities and necessitating the release of migrants into communities. The impact is felt in cities across the northern U.S., including New York City, where efforts to house destitute migrants have been challenging.
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
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