Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the video of illegal immigrants stampeding across the border in El Paso, Texas.
The footage shows a group of illegal migrants breaking apart the barrier and stampeding over Texas National Guard officials as they rioted into the U.S. There were more than 300 in the group, and roughly a hundred adult men overwhelmed the guardsmen, a Texas law enforcement source told Fox News.
Jean-Pierre blamed Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the presence of the Texas National Guard and the alleged politicization of the border crisis.
“What does President Biden think should happen to adult men who are assaulting and overpowering U.S. National Guardsmen?” Doocy asked.
“Well let me just first say we are grateful, and I said this moments ago, to Border Patrol agents to quickly work and get this situation under control and apprehend the migrants. So I want to be really clear that everyone who was apprehended was apprehended by Border Patrol. They were able to do their job even though [the] Republican governor, in particular Governor [Greg] Abbott, has made it difficult for them. We need more resources, we need more personnel. I mean, we have to have the backs of our law enforcement on the ground who are dealing with this everyday. But Republican are getting in the way, Republicans in Congress do not want to help and you have a governor, Governor Abbott, who is politicizing it. That is what’s happening.”
“But I get that you guys — you talk so much about having a more humane immigration system. This video does not show helpless women and children begging for a safe place to come in. It shows adult men landing haymakers on U.S. troops in uniform,” Doocy continued. “If that was happening anywhere else in the world, wouldn’t President Biden send reinforcements?”
“So two things. Everyone was apprehended by the Border Patrol agents. That is important to note. They were apprehended,” Jean-Pierre said.
“Were they deported?” Doocy interjected.
“They were apprehended. I can’t speak to individual cases,” the press secretary replied. “That’s not something I can do from here. But they were all apprehended. That’s number one. And the reason why you’re talking about the Texas National Guard, they were there because of the governor of Texas. The governor of Texas put the Texas National Guard there. We didn’t put them there. He put them there. What we need is actually real solutions. We need to see resources. The Border Patrol agents deserve resources. They deserve to be able to do their jobs, and we’re not getting that from Republicans. They’re rejecting a bipartisan agreement that came out of the Senate.”
The press secretary referred to the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act which intended to shut down the border if the average number of crossings exceeded 5,000 a day. The summary removal requirement would expire only after the number of illegal entries dropped below 3,750 persons a day.
Senate Republicans blocked the bill, which also intended to allocate taxpayer funds for Ukraine and Israel, and House Republicans warned the legislation would be dead on arrival.
The White House blamed former President Donald Trump for the incident at the border given that he encouraged Republicans to vote against the bill.
Border apprehensions surged once President Joe Biden assumed office and scrapped the “Remain in Mexico” policy and “Title 42” that had been enacted during former President Donald Trump’s administration, according to Customs and Border Protection. The apprehensions surged from over 400,000 during Trump’s final year in office to over 1.7 million in Biden’s first year. These numbers have since exceeded 2 million in the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.
Immigration became potential 2024 voters’ top issue in February as apprehensions exceed record highs, according to a Gallup poll, which found 28% of voters named immigration as the most important issue.
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