“For A Number Of Years”: Biden Admits The Border Has Already Been In Chaos Ahead Of Title 42 Expiring

Credit: Yahoo News

President Biden might have just quietly admitted what he and the White House refuse to say publicly about the intense and chaotic situation at the Southern U.S. border.

Biden said on Tuesday that the border situation will be “chaotic for a while” as his administration works to restore order. However, speaking to reporters the next day on the tarmac of the Westchester County Airport, Biden admitted there has been “chaos at the border for a number of years.”

“Well, we’ve had chaos at the border for a number of years,” the president said before boarding Air Force One in White Plains, New York. “We have to fully fund the border security effort.”

He added, “Look, the purpose of what we’re doing now is making legal immigration more streamlined, illegal immigration shorter term and moved — and moving in a direction that people know that there’s a legal way to get here and not legal way. That is what’s underway now.”

Fox News reported:

Biden was sworn in as President in January 2021. At the time, Democrats controlled Congress with a majority in the House of Representatives and a tie-breaking control of the U.S. Senate. 

In the years since the Biden administration has refused to use funding already allocated to reinforce the border, sued Arizona to remove shipping containers that helped fill gaps in the U.S. Border Patrol Yuma Sector, ceased former President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, and ultimately failed to extend Title 42. The “Remain in Mexico” policy has since been reinstated.

On Wednesday evening, the president answered several questions by the group about the more than 10,000 migrants that are being detained at the border daily, the upcoming expiration of Title 42 — which is expected to cause additional migrants to seek entry into the U.S.

He was also asked about Mexico’s role in the current crisis and whether he would consider sending more U.S. troops to the border.

“I spent an hour with the President of Mexico yesterday. He’s been very cooperative,” Biden said.

Biden also said he and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador were “in agreement” and that he was “also supportive of making sure we have way-stops in Colombia and other countries where people can make their case [for asylum].”

Biden was asked if he would consider sending additional troops to the border, and he simply answered, “Yes.”

The president did not specify how many more he would consider sending. 

“The troops are there to free up the Border Patrol people to be able to do their job,” Biden remarked.

Biden also blamed a divided Congress for not addressing border security.

“Look, I asked the Congress for a lot more money for the Border Patrol. They didn’t do it. They’ve made it harder,” the president said. 

He added, “What we want to do at the border is have it work and function in the way it’s designed to work. And that requires us having more immigration officers, more asylum judges, a whole range of things [like] more personnel. And I’m trying to do as much of that as I can.”

House Republicans say that the situation at the border is on Biden since they have put forward the Secure the Border Act. This would renew efforts to build a border wall, add more border patrol agents and provide them more financial incentives for them to do their jobs properly.

It would also end “catch and release” policies.

At a Republican leadership press briefing this week, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Republicans have not remained on the sidelines, as Biden claimed they had.

“Most of the problems we’re seeing at the border were created by Joe Biden himself, starting on his very first day in office as president when he sent a message throughout the world that America’s border is open by doing things like halting construction of the wall, reinstating catch and release, terminating the Remain in Mexico policy, the Northern Triangle agreements,” Scalise said.

He continued, “And so as House Republicans, we said we’re not going to sit on the sidelines like President Biden is creating this problem. We’re going to actually work on solving this problem. And so tomorrow, the day that Title 42 expires, we’re going to bring H.R. 2, the Securing the Border Act, a bill that actually focuses on solving the problem, so we can get back to the rule of law and have a secure border in America, reestablish a legal path to come into this country.”