(Headline USA) Transportation Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg insisted this week that President Joe Biden was doing “everything he can” to address the border crisis, according to the Daily Caller.
The notoriously absentee Transportation secretary also denied that Biden had reversed several successful Trump-era immigration policies—despite the fact that the administration notably gloated about doing so on Biden’s first day as president.
During an interview with CBS on Thursday as a precursor to the president’s State of the Union address, anchor Tony Dokoupil asked Buttigieg whether Biden planned to unveil any executive action in regards to the border crisis and why he hadn’t done so already.
“Look, the president has taken a number of actions with the authority that he has,” Buttigieg claimed in response. “There are some things he’s not going to do, like family separation, because it’s wrong.”
Despite the claim, Biden’s open-border policies have created a robust market for human trafficking that frequently exploits and preys on unaccompanied minors. From 2021 to 2023, the New York Times estimated that a record 400,000 children had crossed the border alone due to Biden having incentivized the dangerous trek.
Repeating a White House talking point, Buttigieg predictably went on to blame congressional Republicans for the border crisis, arguing that the refusal to sign a questionable immigration bill “demonstrated that they would prefer to have the problem, which is politically useful, than the solution that most Americans, including the president of the United States, want to see happen.”
Critics said the bill would have done nothing to address the issue and would, instead, have given the Biden administration additional funding to continue its current policies, aiding and abetting illegal immigrants by funneling billions of dollars to non-governmental programs that assist in their journey.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorkas acknowledged that no additional funding would have been used for deportations, meaning the funds would have been used only to expedite the proceesing of illegals making dubious asylum claims before sending them into the nation’s interior.
In his interview with Buttigieg, Dokoupil pointed out that it seemed like Biden wanted the problem “because there are these things he could do that he’s not doing.”
However, Buttigieg denied that Biden could use his executive authority to take action, claiming, “He’s doing everything that he responsibly can under the law as it now stands.”
Biden has signed more than 90 executive orders since taking office to undo Trump-era border policies, including the successful “Remain in Mexico” asylum rule.
In several instances, he has actively waged legal challenges against those trying to take border security into their own hands—such as suing to force the expiration of the pandemic-era Title 42 policy, and taking a fight with Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow border agents to cut down the razor wire that Gov. Greg Abbott was using to deter crossings.
During another interview earlier this week, Buttigieg also tried to deny that Biden had dismantled these pro-enforcement policies. CNBC host Joe Kernen pointed out that Biden “got rid of the things that were keeping the border closed that President Trump had put in.”
Buttigieg interjected, “That’s literally not true. It’s literally not true.”
The White House, however, has admitted in recent weeks that it is considering taking executive action to address the crisis as Biden continues to fall behind Trump in the polls.
