White House Press Secretary: Biden Has No Plans To Visit Border Amid Illegal Immigration Crisis

As the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border continues to worsen, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference on Monday that President Biden has no plans to visit the border. Biden has not been to the border since entering office.

“I know you’ve been asked about this before, but just yesterday, [Democrat] Representative Cuellar told ‘Face the Nation’ that he wants to see President Biden go to the border. He said it doesn’t have to be for a photo op, but a leader has to show images of being up there in front,” a reporter said.

“So does the President have any plans to go to the border? Is now a good time to go?” the reporter asked.

“Look, the President’s focus right now is to come up with solutions, is focused on making sure that we have the resources to manage what — the challenges that we’re seeing at the border,” Jean-Pierre claimed. “And right now, we — as you know, we have a budget request in front of Congress. And, again, if congressional Republicans are serious about dealing with the challenges that we’re seeing at the border, they will assist.”

“But given what we’re seeing at the border —” the reporter said.

“I just answered the question,” Jean-Pierre interjected. “I just said we’ve — we’ve litigated that back and forth here for the past two weeks or so. The President’s focus right now is to make sure that we have the resources to manage what’s happening right now.”

Reporter: “Does the president have any plans to go to the border.”

Karine Jean-Pierre: No. pic.twitter.com/UYAGbT8fTA

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 19, 2022

Illegal immigration levels at the southern border have reached an all-time high under President Biden and continue to increase. According to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), border officials encountered a record 2,378,944 migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border in fiscal year 2022. That record dwarfed the previous record of 1,734,686 migrant encounters that was set in 2021 – Biden’s first year in office.