President Joe Biden and his administration continue their efforts to sell the $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending bill this week, but the crisis on the Southern border is overshadowing their message.
There are more than 10,000 unaccompanied minors held by the Department of Health and Human Services and 5,000 more detained by Customs and border protection, according to the latest reports. Two-thousand migrants were apprehended in a single border sector in one day and 34,000 in March alone.
Biden triggered the wave of migrants after he proudly announced the reversal of his predecessor’s successful border policies such as “Remain in Mexico” — and did not make plans to handle the surge at the border.
The Biden administration continues sending mixed messaging to migrants crossing into the United States, publicly urging them not to come but also publicly telling them they will not be sent back.
“We are encouraging children not to come. Now is not the time to come. Do not come,” Biden’s Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “The journey is dangerous.”
“The policy of this administration — as you all know, but just for others — is not to expel unaccompanied children who arrive at the border,” Jen Psaki told reporters in February.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appear unprepared to answer basic questions about the crisis, as they travel across the country.
On Tuesday, Harris admitted “I haven’t been briefed on anything today” about the crisis as she traveled in Colorado to promote the administration’s coronavirus spending package. Biden also admitted Tuesday he did not have plans “at the moment” to travel to the Southern border to publicly address the crisis.
On Sunday, Biden adjusted his messaging and suggested he would visit the border, but did not demonstrate any timeline or energy for doing so.
“I know what’s going on in those facilities,” he said when asked if he wanted to see the conditions for himself.
More details of the migrant crisis emerged over the weekend as the administration plans another week of travel across the country to sell their spending package.
Reports emerged Friday of the Biden administration planning to send migrants in airplanes to states near the Canada border for processing to help alleviate the pressure on the Southern border.
The campaign that ranted against the Trump administration for “babies in cages,” has now become the face of the thousands of detained minors in detention without their parents.
Photos of migrant children living in squalid conditions emerged Sunday as well as reports of nearly 1,000 children being detained more than ten days by border patrol officials.
The overall messaging push for Biden’s rescue package has stumbled in recent weeks as the White House struggles to stay on message.
Biden’s trip to Georgia on Friday was derailed after he stumbled three times up the stairs while boarding Air Force One.
Biden plans to travel to Columbus, Ohio, to promote his spending package Tuesday. Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will travel to Iowa on Monday.
Biden also faces his first public press conference Thursday.
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