Relatively speaking, it is pretty rare that President Joe Biden speaks to the press, but when he does, it is apparent that he has no idea what he is talking about.
On Tuesday, a reporter asked Biden, “Why is the border more overwhelmed under your watch?”
It is a straightforward question with a straightforward answer. Biden repealed practically all aspects of border security implemented by former President Donald Trump, Democrats have constantly campaigned on soft immigration policies, and Biden’s veep is pushing amnesty as we speak. As one Border Patrol official recently testified under oath, the notion that illegal immigration has no consequence in the U.S. is fueling the surge.
Of course, Biden can’t admit any of that. It would give the game away. His party wants open borders.
So the president uttered a nonsensical response. Here it is, verbatim:
“Cause there are three countries that never have …there are fewer … fewer immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico. It’s a totally different circumstance. What’s on my watch now is Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. And the ability to send them back to those states is not rational. We can send them back and have them [unintelligible]. We’re working with Mexico and other countries to stop the flow. That’s the difference. Thank you.”
Reporter: "Why is the border more open than ever under your watch?"
Biden: "There are fewer immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico. This is a totally different circumstance." pic.twitter.com/hMOoXbsg4R
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 20, 2022
We don’t expect the fact-checkers in legacy media to hold Biden’s feet to the fire on that claim, so we’ll do it for them.
It isn’t true that fewer illegal aliens from Mexico and the northern triangle countries are entering the country under Biden than ever before, and you don’t have to go back very far to prove it.
Per U.S. Customs and Border Protection data reported by the New York Post, nearly 700,000 aliens arrived at the U.S. southern border from Mexico in the fiscal year 2022. More than 400,000 arrived at the border from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. During that same time, more than 730,000 individuals from other countries attempted to enter the country at the southern border.
Under President Trump, the highest number of illegal aliens from the Northern Triangle in a given fiscal year was just above 600,000. The fewest was under 150,000. Illegal aliens from Mexico never topped more than 350,000 in one fiscal year. If you add up the number of migrants from places other than Mexico and Central American nations who arrived at the border during the entirety of the Trump administration, the total figure is nowhere close to what it’s like under Biden.
Percentage-wise, there are now fewer illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America, but that is only because the border crossings have increased on the whole.
Under Biden, Border Patrol has recorded nearly five million encounters at the southern border. That includes the 850,000 known “gotaways” who entered the country untouched by authorities.
Perhaps if the federal government had illegal immigration under control, America could afford to process and handle asylum seekers from communist places like Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Based on the sheer mass of illegal immigration, clearly, the U.S. cannot secure its borders.
Biden is correct that we have a “totally different circumstance,” but that’s only because of Biden’s own policies that caused, and continue to fuel, the crisis in the first place.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.