Customs and Border Protection revealed a record high for September in the number of Border patrol interactions in a late-night press dump on a Friday. Katie also pointed out a worrisome increase: the number of people who could be terrorists that Border Patrol personnel have encountered. The good news is that on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre conducted a briefing at which she answered questions concerning these figures. As is so often the case, she was at a loss for an adequate response.
A reporter said that the aggregated data showed a bleak picture of the situation at the southern border, with 2.4 million interactions occurring in the fiscal year 2022. that he rightly noted “was the most ever recorded.” Inquiring, “what is the White House’s interpretation as to what happened and why,” he said, “Republicans have their points about it.”
She resorted to Jean-usual Pierre’s line of argumentation, which she admitted was a rehash of past arguments. What she really meant to say was that Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are all part of a “new migratory crisis” that is “impacting the whole Western Hemisphere” because of the collapse of their own governments and economies. She also argued that “we’re seeing, again, a different problem ahead of us we’re dealing with” in her statement as the press secretary.
Toward the end of her response, she said, “we are hard at work in driving toward a regional solution to manage this new challenge,” though the DHS’s purported effort in this direction didn’t begin until this month, despite the fact that the border crisis has been ongoing since President Joe Biden took office and the border was considered open.
By responding in this way, Jean-Pierre essentially shifts the burden to Vice President Kamala Harris, who was appointed by Vice President Joe Biden as border czar in March of last year and entrusted with determining the causes of migration from Central America and how to reduce them. The vice president has also failed in her role because she hasn’t even visited the border despite having the opportunity to do so (and numerous Republican leaders have already done so).
Jean-Pierre continued by blaming Republicans, in particular Republican governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’s Greg Abbott, for sending migrants to sanctuary communities, as she often does.
But as we’ve discussed, even as we strive to address these issues, some Republican governors are playing politics with the plight of refugees fleeing communism, tyranny, and economic collapse. Jean-Pierre continued by saying that both she and the president had brought this to light.
Polls show, however, that people in both Florida and Texas approve of what DeSantis and Abbott are doing, which is significant given that both are seeking reelection and are favorites to win.
Jean-Pierre may tell the press, “all know,” but in reality, the press secretary rarely has a satisfactory explanation and/or is always seeking to transfer blame elsewhere. As Guy pointed out last month, this includes laying blame on Republicans and the Trump administration during a press briefing.