US President Joe Biden says that it is his “intention” to visit the US-Mexico border as a flood of illegal immigrants continues to overwhelm border crossings.
Biden’s comments came on Wednesday while leaving the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where he said that it was his “intention” to visit the border while going to the North American Leaders’ Summit on January 9 to 10, which will include other world leaders such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Reckon he will actually go to the border? Or is this another Biden bluff? pic.twitter.com/MvJqbDpW5L
— Catch Up (@CatchUpNetwork) January 4, 2023
Biden has yet to visit the US-Mexico border as president.
A source told the Wall Street Journal that Biden would not be making a policy announcement while at the border.
Biden’s intent to visit the border appears to be new, as the president said in early December that he would not be visiting Arizona because there were “more important things going on.”
Joe Biden says he can’t visit the southern border because “there are more important things going on.” pic.twitter.com/ZmoCmhjMeF
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 26, 2022
When asked by Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy, Biden said, “because there are more important things going on, they’re gonna invest billions of dollars in a new enterprise.”
Biden’s border crisis has seen unprecedented numbers crossing into the United States. A total of 617,250 migrant encounters have already taken place so far in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 as of December 29, 2022, the Customs and Border Protection agency said. That averages to 6,858 encounters per day.
FY 2022 saw 2.3 million migrant encounters.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has previously attempted to cover for her boss, saying in November and without evidence that Biden had already been to the border.
“We know the president’s never been down to the border. The possible next speaker says that he wants [Biden] to go with him. So, is he going to?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked.
“He’s been there. He’s been to the border. And since he took office…,” Jean-Pierre said.
“When did he go to the border?,” Doocy responded, said Jean-Pierre, who said that Republicans were making it impossible to work with Biden on the issue.
“They’re doing political stunts. That’s what they want to do. That’s how they want to take care of the situation,” Jean-Pierre said.
