Trump, who left office on Jan. 20, of course, left his successor a gift with regard to border enforcement. But Biden’s rhetoric on illegal immigration has seen people stream across the border in record numbers. The once-stable border is now a superhighway for illegal immigration and for children traveling alone.
Those who feigned outrage at migrant kids in camps, or “cages” as they called them during the Trump administration, are scrambling for a lifeline as countless are now in the care of Customs and Border Protection, with more arriving every day.
This week, Republican lawmakers have finally had enough of the crisis, which could have been avoided. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy actually visited the border near El Paso, Texas, on Monday and pointed the finger at Biden for the quagmire.
What’s happening at the border is more than a crisis. This is human heartbreak.
And it was created by the policies of President Biden. pic.twitter.com/PNUUoXy6NZ
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) March 15, 2021
The GOP is nailing the new president on the matter and is doing so early in his presidency.
No person is more desperate to avoid that issue than White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Asked about the crisis by “PBS NewsHour” correspondent Yamiche Alcindor on Monday, Psaki ducked and found a familiar boogeyman: Trump
“There were lawyers who interviewed some children that were in facilities. The children described sleeping on the floor, being hungry, not being — not seeing the sun for days,” Alcindor said.
“How is that acceptable for the Biden administration to keep children in those sorts of conditions given the fact that you said you were going to be the administration that was going to be more humane than the previous one?”
Psaki, according to an official White House transcript, called the situation, which her administration created, “a very emotional issue for a lot of people.”
“We are trying to work through what was a dismantled and unprepared system because of the role of the last administration. It’s going to take some time, but we are very clear-eyed about what the problems are and very focused on putting forward solutions,” she said, blaming the Trump administration for the Democrat crisis.
Psaki’s answer wasn’t good enough for Alcindor.
“But children being hungry, sleeping on the floor, not being allowed outside for days at a time — why is that acceptable to go on even for one more day?” Alcindor asked in a follow-up. “Why is that something that’s not being outlawed right now? How is the administration not stopping that today?”
“Well, Yamiche, it’s not acceptable. But I think the challenge here is that there are not that many options. So the options are — and we have a lot of critics, but many of them are not putting forward a lot of solutions,” Psaki said.
“The options here are: Send the kids back on the journey, send them to unvetted homes, or work to expedite moving them into shelters where they can get health treatment by medical doctors, by educational resources, legal counseling, mental health counseling,” she added. “That’s exactly what we’re focused on doing. And this is an across-the-administration effort that we are committed, from the top to making changes on as quickly as possible.”
Had Democrats not ramped up their pro-illegal immigration talking points, which the entire world sees and monitors, then there would be no need to find housing, health care and counseling for most of these kids. Children don’t often make decisions to trek across borders ad deserts. Kids are influenced by adults who, in this case, were apparently convinced that the “migrant president,” as Biden is called in Mexico, wants them here amid a global pandemic.
Because of the administration’s language, Biden, Psaki and indeed everyone who supported this inept group of people own this crisis. The kids are back in “cages,” and in apparently larger numbers than ever before.
Who takes the blame? Trump.
The man who worked around the clock to shore up the border, enforce the country’s immigration laws and inherited his own mess from the Obama/Biden administration is a convenient scapegoat for Biden’s administration. But apparently not even the most fervent leftist reporters are ready to buy the line that he’s to blame and simply forget the topic.
The border crisis is now brought up with what must be an alarming frequency for a White House with the entire corporate media in its pocket. Still, the administration is attempting to frame its few positives as being an accomplishment for Biden while every crisis is Trump’s fault. That standard applies to the ongoing pandemic, the economy and now to the border.
But what Psaki is selling, thus far, is not good enough — not even for a leftist such as Alcindor.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.