The White House Press Secretary said that Joe Biden is doing “everything he can” to deal with the border.
Joe Biden: What Is He Doing to Keep Border Secure?
There was a bitter clash this week between the White House and Republicans in Congress that had nothing to do with the historic removal Tuesday of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Earlier this week, per Fox News, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused the Republicans of treating the border as a “stunt.”
“What I’m saying is that the president, without the help, without the help of Republicans, is doing everything that he can to deal with the border,” Jean-Pierre said this week at a White House press briefing.
“While Republicans try to push forth a CR to limit – to take away – the federal agents that we see at the border… they’re trying to politicize it and make it worse,” the press secretary said of the negotiations last week to avert a shutdown.
“That’s what Republicans are trying to do and turn it into a political stunt. The president is actually dealing with the issue that’s in front of him by getting record funding, 25,000 federal agents at the border. That is something that this president has been able to do.”
The press secretary also stated that the administration has increased enforcement at the border with additional troops, who have “removed or returned more than 250,000 individuals since May 12 alone.”
“And deterrence, we’ve had the largest expansion of pathways in decades,” the press secretary added in the Monday briefing. “And we’ve made clear that attempting to cross the border unlawfully will result in prompt removal, a five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution.
The GOP has frequently accused Biden of implementing an “open border,” with that used as the basis for several of the long-shot impeachment resolutions introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and others in the last two-and-a-half years, although the actual existing impeachment inquiry is about Hunter Biden’s business dealings and not the border.
But “open borders” has never been anything close to a fair characterization of the Biden administration’s border policy. Republicans have often claimed that a large number of people or drugs intercepted at the border is a sign of mismanagement of that border, when it fact it shows the exact opposite.
For instance, presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently posted on social media that “Border Patrol has seized enough fentanyl to kill every single American this fiscal year, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are nowhere to be found.” But isn’t the Border Patrol part of the Biden Administration? Isn’t seizing “enough fentanyl to kill every single American” (itself a questionable claim) an indication that there is actually border enforcement going on, and that the borders are not in fact “open”?
“The administration should be lauded for trying to create some order at a border that has been chaotic for decades, while also permitting tens of thousands of new migrants the opportunity to escape persecution and pursue better lives in the United States,” a Council on Foreign Relations op-ed earlier this year said.
However, some Democratic governors have begun to differ from the Biden Administration when it comes to the border, as reported this week by The Center Square.
“Unfortunately, the welcome and aid Illinois has been providing to these asylum seekers has not been matched with support by the federal government,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote in a recent letter to the White House. “Most critically, the federal government’s lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois.”
“People coming from all over the world are finding their way through, simply saying they need asylum, and the majority of them seem to be ending up in the streets of New York and that is a real problem for New York City,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a TV interview this week.
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
From the Vault
