The White House retreats after Biden described the border situation as a “crisis”

by

The president’s use of the “crisis” label does not represent the administration’s official position, the White House said Monday regarding a term that senior administration officials have refused to say. as the number of migrants increased.

“We will increase the numbers. The problem was that the refugee side was working on the crisis that ended on the border with young people and we could not do two things at once. And now we will increase the numbers,” Biden said.

On Monday, the White House tried to downplay those words, saying Biden was referring to the conditions in the Northern Triangle countries that come from migrants and not the increase in migrant children in U.S. custody.

“No, there is no change of position. Children arriving at our border seeking refuge from violence, economic hardship and other disastrous circumstances are not a crisis,” a White House official told CNN.

The official said Biden “was referring to the crisis in Central America, the dire circumstances of which many are fleeing. He was not referring to the federal government’s response.”

He added: “The federal government’s response and process has been laser-focused in finding solutions that allow us to address these root causes, expand capacity space, and quickly transfer children to relatives. We remain focused on removing the children from CBP facilities to the appropriate facilities and finally joined by relatives or sponsors who are safe and who have been examined “.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made the same distinction Monday afternoon.

“The president does not believe that children who come to our border seeking refuge from violence, economic hardship and other terrible circumstances are a crisis. He believes that the crisis in Central America, the dire circumstances that many are fleeing, this is a situation. in which we must devote our time or effort and we must solve it if we want to prevent more influx of migrants from arriving in the coming years, ”Psaki said at Monday’s press conference.

Biden’s use of the word crisis to describe the situation on the border came after Psaki, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Roberta Jacobson, the top administration overseeing the border, refused to label it as such throughout the month of March. Some reporters pressured Psaki and others on at least nine occasions.

The number of migrants on the southern border steadily increased in the first weeks of the Biden administration, with more than 100,000 migrants found on the U.S.-Mexico border in February, which jumped to more than 172,000 in March.
This increase included an increasing number of families and children. The number of unaccompanied minors in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, an agency that does not seek to care for children for extended periods of time, hit dramatic highs throughout March.

Psaki refused to “put new labels on it” when asked if the government had a crisis on the border on 25 February.

On March 1, Mayorkas said bluntly that “the answer is no” when asked if there was a crisis, saying instead that there is a “border challenge we manage.”

On March 2, Psaki reiterated that the administration “would address this issue without labeling.” He again declined to describe it as a crisis on March 5, 9 and 10 when asked directly if he would attribute the word “crisis” to the situation.

On March 9, more than 3,200 unaccompanied minors were detained, according to internal agency documents reviewed by CNN.

Jacobson reiterated that stance on March 10, saying, “I’m not trying to be handsome here, but I think the fact is that we have to do what we do regardless of what someone calls the situation.”

On March 11, when there were approximately 4,500 children in CBP custody, Psaki told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “It doesn’t matter how you say it. It’s a huge challenge.”

On March 18, Psaki briefly described the situation as a “border crisis,” but later in the briefing if there was a change in the administration’s view, he clarified that there were “challenges at the border.” “.

Pressed once again on March 22, Psaki said: “Children who present at our border fleeing violence, fleeing trials, fleeing terrible situations is not a crisis. We believe it is our responsibility to address this circumstance humanely and make sure they are treated and put in safe conditions, ”he continued, saying the administration focused on“ solutions ”.

The number of children in CPB custody peaked at nearly 5,800 on March 28. That number has dropped significantly since then, as the administration intensified efforts to transfer children from CBP prison-like facilities to the Department of Health and Human Services. , a department better equipped to serve them. Since last week, there have been 2,515 children in CBP custody, indicating progress in the relief of border patrol stations.

But the average CBP custody time for unaccompanied migrant children is still well above the legal 72-hour limit, though around 122 hours, according to data obtained by CNN.

HHS oversees a foster care network for migrant children and has been opening up a number of emerging places to house them until they can be released to a sponsor, such as a parent, in the United States. As a result, the number of children in HHS custody has grown: last week, there were 19,798 children in HHS custody.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.

.Source