White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted on Monday that migrants are not just “walking” across the border — an event captured near daily by press photographers.
The stunning answer came in response to a question by Fox News’ Peter Doocy, who asked why potentially unvaccinated migrants continue to arrive in the US but
tennis star Novak Djokovic couldn’t compete in the US Open, which
kicked off in Flushing Meadows, Queens today.
“It is not that simple. It’s not just that people are walking across the border. We have a plan in place. This is not like switching the lights on. This is going to take a process,” Jean-Pierre said about the thousands of migrants that are crossing into the US every week as she pivoted to criticize the former administration’s immigration policies.
“We are fixing a broken system that was actually left by the last administration. And as it relates to the tennis star, that is totally different. That is a different process,” she insisted, noting that Djokovic’s beef is with the US Open but he still has to abide by federal regulations.
Doocy pushed back, saying the situation at the border isn’t the same as the White House describes it.
“Thousands of people are walking in in a day. Some of them turn themselves over. Some of them — tens of thousands a week are not,” he said.
Jean-Pierre responded by ticking off a number of initiatives the administration has begun — including working with Mexico and Guatemala to catch human traffickers, securing more funding for the Department of Homeland Security, and increasing the number of judges to hear asylum cases faster.
“By contrast, or to the prior administration, immigration strategy was to build a wall and they couldn’t even come accomplish that in the four years … which is also a policy that just does not work,” she said.
nypost.com
