In a bizarre statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre basically told a reporter that doing something about the border crisis wasn’t Joe Biden’s job.
Pierre offered the shocking defense of President Biden’s refusal to use his executive powers over the past years to tackle the border crisis — after a reporter asked, “Why isn’t he doing anything?”
“Why should he have to do it unilaterally?” Jean-Pierre replied — justifying Biden’s three-plus years of inaction as he now finally has considered using his presidential powers to limit the number of asylum applicants allowed into the US after entering the country illegally.
The NY Post reported that the defense was immediately ridiculed online, with former President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Jason Miller tweeting, “3-D chess from KJP right here.”
“No chance [fellow White House spokesman John] Kirby would have been smart enough to shift the blame to others and act as though Joe Biden wasn’t the sitting President of the United States,” Miller added, making light of reported tension between Kirby and Jean-Pierre.
“This is why KJP will remain in place as Press Secretary!”
Biden is considering issuing an executive order to shut down the US-Mexico border if migrant crossings surpass 4,000 per day, sources told The Post — though Jean-Pierre didn’t reply to a shouted question Wednesday about the status of that pending action.
A failed congressional border policy package would have also granted Biden that authority, but Republican opponents say Biden already had that power – he just refused to use it. Despite KJP defending that action, his administration lawyers now agree that Biden does indeed have the power to act on the border through executive action, though when and if he will do so remains unclear.
The border crisis exploded in 2021, during Biden’s first year in office, as he used executive powers the opposite way — to unilaterally end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required most asylum seekers to remain south of the border as US immigration courts reviewed their claims of persecution.
Biden also halted construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall, proposed amnesty for most illegal immigrants already in America, and began allowing a majority of people who illegally crossed the border into the interior — providing them government-issued smartphones and paperwork that entitles them to work permits following an initial six-month wait period.
Such left-wing policies have led to a surge in migrants that has burdened state and local governments, including in New York City, where municipal services have been slashed to help finance food and housing for recent arrivals.