Biden Addresses Border Crisis In First Presidential Press Conference

President Joe Biden refuted claims that his administration’s policies on immigration and border security were causing the influx of migrants and unaccompanied minors at the U.S.-Mexico border in the first press conference of his presidency on March 25.

Biden was asked questions on voting rights, gun control, and foreign policy, but reporters pressed the President on the particular issues of increases in migrants at the border, deportation, the conditions in Border Patrol Facilities, and media access to those facilities. 

President Biden said that the recent increase was seasonal and not a reflection of his presidency, noting that this year’s increase was slightly below the increase in 2019 under his predecessor Donald Trump, who took a much harsher stance on immigration policy. 

“Truth of the matter is nothing has changed. As many people came, 28% increase in children to the border in my administration. 31% in the last year of – in 2019, before the pandemic, in the Trump administration. It happens every single solitary year,” said Biden.

However, according to FactCheck.org, the figures that Biden cited are that of total apprehensions at the border, and that the increase of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border rose 63% in the first month of his presidency. 

These children are held in border detention facilities that were widely criticized under Trump’s presidency by Joe Biden and the Democrats in the run-up to the election last November. 

The Biden administration has only recently allowed reporters access to one of the detention facilities in Texas, but other facilities that are over capacity remain barred to the news media.

When asked if he would allow access to the overcrowded facilities, Biden said that they will provide transparency once he can implement his plan for solving the issue, although he was unable to answer when that would be.

Biden has launched an effort to fulfill the number of beds needed for children at the border, using Department of Health and Human Services funding and opening up nine new emergency housing facilities. 

Biden expressed that poor living conditions and opportunities in Latin American countries were the driving force behind the mass immigration, and that he was asking Vice President Kamala Harris to oversee $700 million-plus a year in aid to these countries to combat the amount of people immigrating north. 

According to a recent report from The New York Times, the amount of unaccompanied minors apprehended doubled from February to March, and that total apprehensions at the border increased by 70% to over 170,000 migrants, the most in a single month since 2006. 

The facilities at the border are far beyond capacity, and with new laws in Mexico restraining the amount of Central American families they will accept from the U.S. border, officials have been releasing immigrant families into the U.S. with orders to appear for a future court date. 

In his press conference, Biden claimed that they were sending back the “vast majority” of single-people and families apprehended crossing the border, using a Trump-era emergency public health policy under Title 42 that allows immediate expulsion of asylum seekers, but data from the U.S Customs and Border Protection Agency states that in the month of February only 41% of families apprehended at the border were sent back. 

In the press conference Biden blamed Trump’s actions as president for the poor conditions at the border.

“What did Trump do? He eliminated that funding. He didn’t use it… He, in fact, shut down the number of beds available. He did not fund HHS to get people, to get the children out of those Border Patrol facilities where they should not be and not supposed to be more than a few days,” said Biden. 

Biden is receiving criticism from both sides of the political aisle for his handling of the crisis. 

Democrats have criticized Biden’s use of the Title 42 emergency policy that allows them to immediately expel migrants without allowing them to apply for asylum, as well as the continued use of the border detention facilities for children and families.  

Republicans are keen on pinning the border crisis on Biden’s policies and rhetoric as they begin to strategize for the midterm elections next year.

After touring the El Paso Central Processing Center, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a press conference, “The sad part about all this, didn’t have to happen. This crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. There’s no other way to claim it than a Biden border crisis.” 

The continued increase in border crossings is one of the several major issues that Joe Biden will have to try to fix in his first year as President. Improvements in the economy and dropping death rates from COVID-19 are achievements he would like voters to focus on, but failing to deliver on promises of immigration reform could spell trouble for the Democrats in 2022.