President Biden said on Thursday that he would be “ flattered ” if migrants moved to the U.S.-Mexico border because of him – but he disputed that idea, insisting that waves of migration generally occur in the spring and that the increasing crisis facing government is not unique. .
Biden, answering his second question at his first formal White House press conference, was asked about people entering the U.S. illegally because of the perception that he will welcome them, which he did not address and instead insisted that the same situation arises “every single, lonely year.”
“Well look, I guess I should be flattered when people come because I’m a nice guy – that’s why it happens – that I’m a decent man, or however it’s worded, that’s why they because they know Biden is a good guy. “
He added, “But the truth is, nothing has changed. Like many people, 28 percent more children arrived at the border in my administration. Thirty-one percent in the last year of 2019, before the Trump administration pandemic. This happens every single year. “
Biden reiterated that it “happens every year,” without answering the original question on his posts that sparked waves of illegal immigration.
Is anyone suggesting there was a 31 percent increase under Trump because he was a nice guy? And he did good things at the border? That’s not why they come. The reason they come is that it is the time that they can travel with the least chance of dying on the road, because the heat in the desert, number one, number two, they come because of the conditions in their country. “
Biden said of the migrant bump, “I’d like to think it’s because I’m a nice guy, but it’s not. It’s because of what happens every year. “
In response to a question from NBC News’ Kristen Welker asking when reporters can visit the overcrowded Border Patrol facilities housing children who have illegally crossed the US-Mexico border, the president said, “I don’t know. “
“I don’t know, just to be clear,” Biden said
Reporters on Wednesday were given limited access to a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas run by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the Biden administration has not allowed reporters into more cramped border patrol camps.
Welker asked, “Will you commit to giving journalists access to facilities that will be overcrowded in the future?”
Biden said, “I will commit – if my plan is implemented very soon – to give you access to not only me, but other facilities as well.”
He said, “I will commit to transparency as soon as I am able to implement what we are doing now.”
Biden acknowledged that he did not have a specific time frame to expand access to the press.
He added that “one of the reasons I haven’t gone down … is that I don’t want to be the issue” in the midst of the crisis.
Biden’s critics accuse him of triggering a wave of migrants by relaxing former President Donald Trump’s border policies and proposing legislation to legalize most of the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the US. He denied the charge at the press conference.
Last month, Biden ended Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” policy that required Central American asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while US courts reviewed their claims.
Biden halted construction of his predecessor’s Mexican border wall and issued an order confirming the 2012 Delayed Action for Children Arrivals Program, which grants work permits and protection from deportation to people who have been illegally brought to the US as minors.
The House of Representatives last week passed bills that would create a path to citizenship for about half of estimated illegal immigrants in the US, including farm workers and children arriving as minors. Many Republicans said the bills create new “pull” factors for migration.