(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to identify a single Biden administration policy aimed at securing the southern border amid rampant illegal immigration.
During Thursday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre declined to respond to questions about potential immigration policies President Joe Biden is open to discuss with Congressional Republicans amid a standoff on Ukrainian and U.S. border funding.
Karine Jean-Pierre is unable to articulate A SINGLE POLICY the Biden administration would support to secure the southern border pic.twitter.com/Is8NY5iTGW
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 21, 2023
“Can you tell the American people if there’s any immigration policy that this White House is willing to talk about and is working on with Republicans,” one reporter asked. However, Jean-Pierre replied that she did not want to usurp ongoing negotiations.
“I want to be really careful as negotiations happen,” Jean-Pierre claimed. “We don’t want to do this in the public, right? It does not help the process. We want to make sure that those negotiations are happening, obviously we’re part of those negotiations with the senators.”
The White House and Republican members of Congress are currently engaged in negotiations for a potentially bipartisan agreement to back funding for both the U.S. southern border and Ukraine.
Enormous group. These are some of the family units. pic.twitter.com/HqTmJsFS1U
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 21, 2023
Initially, Biden aimed to link Ukrainian funding with a House-passed bill for Israel, totaling $14.3 billion. However, House Republicans vehemently opposed such a move, insisting that any future funding for Ukraine’s defense against Russia must be tied to southern border funding.
Jean-Pierre expressed optimism about the “right direction” of these negotiations. “We want to make sure we get some bipartisan agreement. It’s incredibly important. The president understands… that we have to fix this immigration system. It is been broken for decades now. So we have to do everything we can to fix that system.” The press secretary ended the press conference by saying, “See you next year.”
The Biden administration has faced bipartisan criticism for its policy mishaps at the southern border, prompting Gov. Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz., to deploy the state national guard and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, to empower state law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants intercepted while crossing the border.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, both Democrats, criticized the federal government’s leniency at the border, saying that their cities are being overwhelmed by the flow of illegal aliens.
Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged Biden to take executive action to address the unprecedented surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.
Proposed policies include ending “catch-and-release,” limiting parole authority, reinstating the Trump administration-era Remain in Mexico policy, expediting deportations and building a border wall.
