Biden under developing pressure over border crisis
After two months of relatively smooth sailing, Joe Biden has landed in choppy waters: confronted with a migrant hurry on the border with Mexico, the Democratic president stands accused of failing to respond properly - and of lacking transparency with the media.
Questioned simply by Republican opponents, but also by a lot of in his own get together, Biden has launched right into a tricky week that features, on Thursday, his primary press conference since taking office.
The influx of a large number of migrants has provided an opening to his critics, who struggled to find an angle of attack as Biden successfully ramped up the coronavirus vaccination campaign - and it has united the fractured Republican Party along the way.
They have accused the new president of fabricating the border chaos with a naive immigration stance.
“Despite your administration’s refusal to admit this is a crisis, the American people are starting to understand the gravity of the problem,” said Republican Senator Ted Cruz, announcing he'd go to the border this week with 14 of his colleagues.
Cruz accused the White House of “hiding the truth” by avoiding journalists from going to border services, particularly those holding children.
Two rival senators - Republican John Cornyn and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who represent border says Texas and Arizona, respectively - as well issued a joint letter urging Biden to intensify his response.
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump chimed in, telling: “It’s insane and it’s nothing compared to what it’s likely to be over the coming weeks,” fanning the flames on a topic that has always been a result in for his political foundation.
Up to now, Biden has generally avoided the problem, but confronted with reporters’ queries at his press meeting later on this week, he is aware he will have to treat it head on.
Asked about it in Sunday evening after a weekend by Camp David, he remained evasive.
Does he plan to visit the border himself?
“At some point I will, yes,” he explained.
Doesn’t he wish to see for himself the proceedings there?
“I know what’s going on in those facilities,” he replied.
His last 10 tweets discuss masks, vaccinations, St Patrick’s Day time, the stimulus bundle, global warming and violence against Asian Us citizens… but not the situation on the border.
- ‘The border isn't open’ -
The crisis is thwarting the White House’s plans to keep the “Help is here now” tour - a victory lap promoting the merits of Biden’s gigantic, massively popular $1.9 trillion financial stimulus plan followed by Congress.
The simply presidential trip of the week is scheduled for Tuesday - Biden will happen to be Ohio to highlight the positive impact of his aid initiative, dubbed the “American Rescue Program,” on medical sector.
At the same time when lawmakers from both functions are visiting the border, and the first photographs of unaccompanied migrant children, who are in the heart of the controversy, are released - the White House is struggling to make clear how it finished up here and what comes next.
Biden has pledged to erase what he has called “a moral and national shame” inherited from Trump - namely, the separation of thousands of migrant families, a few of whom have still not been reunited.
But while kids are no more separated from their parents at the border, the arrival of many unaccompanied minors is a pressing issue.
“The border isn't open. The majority of men and women are turned away,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated Monday.
“With children, our focus is on expediting the processing at the border and ensuring they can get to shelters as quickly as possible.”
Homeland Protection Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, under fire for his sometimes confusing messaging, did not deny the number of 5,200 kids getting held in centers designed for men and women at the border - well above the peak under Trump.
More than 600 of these are also there for a lot more than 10 days, even though the law only allows them to transit for a maximum of three days.
A bipartisan band of US lawmakers visited immigration conveniences in the El Paso, Texas area the other day and many emerged with sharp criticism.
Senator Chris Murphy, a good Democrat, said he saw a huge selection of children packed into a “big, start room,” and “fought rear tears” as he paid attention to a good 13-year-old female who was simply distraught after appearing separated from her grandmother.
In The Washington Content, photographer John Moore, writer of a publication on the border, said Trump’s “zero tolerance” toward immigrants had turned into Biden-era “zero access” for journalists.
“The existing administration took over with a pledge to create US immigration policy more humane and transparent. Nonetheless it is falling short on the latter goal, which makes it hard to judge how it is performing on the former,” he said.
