White Home says Biden has 'performed greater than any prior president' to safe border

The White Home on Wednesday defended President Joe Biden's report on immigration, saying that no president had performed extra to safe the southern border than him.

Biden controversially visited the border final weekend, stopping by El Paso, Texas, on his method to a sequence of conferences in Mexico Metropolis. Experiences surfaced that huge migrant camps within the metropolis have been cleared forward of the go to, which prompted questions from the press corps.

BIDEN'S BORDER VISIT LEADS TO BLOWBACK FROM LEFT

"Why did not President Biden wish to see what's actually occurring on the border?" requested a reporter throughout the afternoon press briefing.

White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded that he did, after which the reporter, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, mentioned Biden did not discuss to immigrants and did not go wherever individuals truly cross illegally.

As a part of her response, Jean-Pierre mentioned Biden had not solely performed his half however had performed greater than any earlier president to safe the border.

"Look, the president has been doing the work," she mentioned. "And if you consider the report funding, he has performed greater than any prior president to safe the border and construct a protected, orderly, and humane immigration system."

Regardless of Jean-Pierre's reassurances, the variety of unlawful crossings on the border has ballooned since Biden took workplace. Roughly 300,000 immigrants cross the border in fiscal 2020, which jumped to 2.1 million in 2021 and a pair of.4 million final 12 months.

Republicans have blasted the president's go to as nothing greater than a "faux photograph op."

"[Biden] went to the migrant heart, which was a vital place to be when you consider our companions who're serving to assist migrants on the bottom there," Jean-Pierre mentioned."There occurred to be no migrants on the facility throughout the time that he visited."

Requested if it was simply "a coincidence" that issues have been so calm when Biden arrived, the press secretary started defending his report.

"That is a great factor that we have seen the numbers go down," she mentioned. "That is one thing that we ought to be saying, 'OK, good job there.'"