March 26, 2021
The main takeaway from President Biden’s first press conference is that Biden has no problem lying to the American people.
When asked if he regretted dismantling many of the Trump-era immigration policies, without hesitation, Biden adamantly declared that there was no unusual activity at the border, and “this happens every year”.
No. It does not. According to the Wall Street Journal, as of, February there were 382,000 apprehensions so far this fiscal year. Compared to the same period in the fiscal year 2019, a year that saw the highest number of border crossings since 2007, this is an increase of 42%.
Last month 100,000 migrants illegally crossed over the border. For context, in February of last year, there were 34,000 illegal border crossers. In February, unaccompanied minor border crossings was up 171% from the same time last year.
As of Wednesday, almost 17,000 unaccompanied minors were in federal custody. In March alone, U.S. agents are on track to apprehend 16,000 unaccompanied children, an all-time high.
It is hard to believe that even Joe Biden, who is not exactly at the top of his game, believes that his numerous Executive Orders, which rescinded many of the Trump-era immigration policies, are not to blame for the surge at the border. Even Biden must see a connection, especially since the rush of migrants to the southern border began when he became president.
Are we supposed to believe that Biden has not seen the numerous pictures of migrants wearing t-shirts with his name emblazoned on them? Or the many interviews with migrants, in which they unequivocally state that they chose to come to the U.S. now because they believed that Biden had invited them.
Biden also claimed that the former Trump administration left migrant children “on the other side” of the border “to starve to death”. This is a reprehensible lie. Under Trump, unaccompanied children were taken into custody, processed, put on a chartered flight, and returned to their families. Unlike the Biden administration, the Trump administration believed in securing our southern border and the sovereignty of the U.S.
In contrast, the Biden administration has made it U.S. policy to admit EVERY unaccompanied minor who self-identifies as age 17 or younger. No doubt this policy has incentivized the surge of unaccompanied minors.
The unprecedented number of minors breaching the U.S. border has necessitated the opening of nine emergency housing facilities. According to Matt Bassett, former HHS Assistant Secretary with the Trump administration, on Fox News at Night with Shannon Bream on Thursday night, every child that crosses the border illegally costs U.S. taxpayers between $900-$1300 a day to house in temporary facilities. The average child is in custody for 40 days. That is $40,000 times 17,000 and counting.
Biden also lied when he claimed that most illegal families were expelled. Customs and Border Protection data indicates that 60% of family units in February were granted entry into the U.S. And according to Axios, over the last week, only 13% of migrant families have been expelled from the U.S. The other 87% have been temporarily housed, given medical attention, and transported by bus and plane to the city of their choice, courtesy of the American taxpayers.
During the hour-long press conference, there was no push back against the outright lies spewed by Biden. But, this isn’t surprising. One of the first “journalists” to ask a question, PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor, prefaced her question with the “fact” that migrants have been lured to the southern border because Biden is a “moral decent man”.
Biden has offered no plan to secure the southern border. He does not even acknowledge that the surge of illegal migrants breaching our Southern border is a crisis caused by his actions. Unfortunately for our country, Biden is far from the man Alcindor has described, and the complicit media enables him.
