White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday emphasized President Biden's admission that the U.S. border is not secure.
Yet when asked why Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has repeatedly testified to Congress that the border is, in fact, secure, Jean-Pierre wavered. The White House said the border is a “broken” system and needs more funding.
“On Friday, President Biden said he does not believe the border is secure, which is different from what Secretary Mayorkas has testified to on the Hill multiple times. Why do they have two different views on border security? Do you have it?'' the reporter asked.
“The president has made it very clear that we need to move across the border,” Jean-Pierre responded. “When he said we need to address border security, it shows us, as Mayorkas, as everyone has done here in the White House, that there is a problem at the border and we need to address it. I think we have to act now. There is an urgent need.”
Illegal immigrant population surges under Biden administration: government data
Biden admits border is not secure:
“If Mr. Mayorkas, who is tasked with making sure these resources are applied, is saying different things than the president about whether they are safe or not. Understand why there is a discrepancy here. “I think it's difficult,” the reporter said.
Immigration crisis puts strain on vast numbers of border officials and immigration courts
“Look, the president has said repeatedly that our immigration system is broken,” Jean-Pierre responded, going on to list the immigration proposals he has proposed over the past three years.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to explain why Biden and Secretary of State Alejandro Mayorkas appear to disagree on the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Biden administration is seeking to downplay the record high levels of illegal immigration seen in the latter months of 2023. As many as 10,000 migrants were apprehended each day at the southwestern U.S. border in December, but the White House tried to disguise this as a seasonal surge.
There were 242,418 encounters with migrants at the southern border in November, the highest number on record for November and the third-highest number for the month on record.
The Biden administration is seeking to downplay the record levels of illegal immigration seen in the latter months of 2023. (Fox News)
Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill are moving forward with impeachment against Mayorkas.
“This one man is the architect of the destruction here. One man is behind all this chaos, the deaths from fentanyl poisoning, the danger to our country from terrorist infiltration, the 8 million encounters with no legal status. He's the architect. He's destroyed the fabric of this country,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this report
