by President Joe Biden was not scheduled to visit the southern border during his trip to Arizona on Tuesday – a decision criticized by both conservative and progressive immigration experts.
The White House program states that Biden will visit Phoenix to announce his economic initiatives, but there is no mention of a stop at the border, which is just over 100 miles away.
Despite rising illegal immigration, gruesome human trafficking, and large quantities of fentanyl entering the United States illegally, Biden did not go to the border as president.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she was “there” last month, but she may be referring to Biden’s trips to the border before he became president.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on why Biden would not go to the border on Tuesday. Authorities also did not respond to a request about when Biden supposedly visited the border.
SOME DEMS CALLS BIDEN TO MOVE STRONG TO THE BORDER
FILE – President Joe Biden has yet to visit the southern border since taking office.
(Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump has visited the border five times as president. Tom Homan, Executive Director of Immigration and Customs in the Trump administration and visiting researcher at the Heritage Foundation, said Biden’s refusal to visit the border was a betrayal of agents who risked their lives to enforce his policies.
“If Biden doesn’t visit the border while in Arizona and talk to the men and women who risk their lives every day during a historic border security crisis, then it will show that he really left the agency that works 24/7 to keep this country safe,” Homan Fox News Digital’ e said. “What kind of commander-in-chief fails the frontlines because of politics? The truth is Joe Biden won’t visit the border because he doesn’t want to face the reality of the destruction his policies have wrought.”
This criticism of Biden’s lack of focus on the southern border disappointed progressive groups as well. Alexandra Miller, Director of the Immigration Justice Campaign at the American Council on Immigration, said Biden must have witnessed the impact of brutal federal immigration policies.
“President Biden has an important opportunity to come to Arizona to witness the persecution of immigrants at the border and to see the hard work that humanitarian organizations, legal service providers, and other good Samaritans do at the border every day,” Miller told Fox News Digital. “Unfortunately, this opportunity seems to be missed.”
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS REPORTED TO DISCUSS TRUMP-LIKE ASYLUM POLICIES WHEN IMPIGATION CONTINUES
FILE – President Biden’s trip to Arizona will focus on his economic agenda.
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Border encounters between US law enforcement and illegal border crossings hit a record annual high of 1.7 million in 2021 under the Biden administration, and have already hit a new high of 2.3 million this year. Border officials were able to turn these immigrants back under Title 42, a policy inspired by the pandemic created by the Trump administration that will end this month. Biden administration officials estimate that record-breaking border encounters could double without Title 42, and could reportedly adopt a nearly identical policy that allows them to turn immigrants back if they can find refuge in a country they crossed to reach the US border. .
Gene Hamilton, vice president of America First Legal and a former senior adviser to the secretary of Homeland Security, said the United States is experiencing an unprecedented border crisis that has been ignored by its leader.
“President Biden’s absence at the border on this trip shows us that he is determined to fail, to open borders, and to a post-Westphalian order that has led to a weakened United States,” Hamilton told Fox News Digital. “Every nation has the right to protect its borders, and the United States is no different, but President Biden presided over a catastrophic collapse of border security, unprecedented in modern times.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has been tasked with addressing the “root cause” of the mass exodus to the southern border, which she has only visited since taking office. “The border is safe,” she said in September. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus was asked to resign last month and he accepted the request.
BORDER REGION CONGRESS MEMBER WARNED AGAINST IMMIGRANTS ‘KASURBA’ AT THE BORDER WHEN TITLE 42 ENDS
FILE – Vice President Kamala Harris has not visited the southern border since June 2021, despite leading efforts to address the influx of migrants.
(SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The time has come for Biden to acknowledge the border crisis, said Andrew Arthur, resident law and policy fellow at the Center for Migration Studies.
“Perhaps the President is unaware of the carnage he has caused, but can only blame himself and his advisers for going to the Mexican border and failing to see for himself the consequences of his actions – and inactions,” said Arthur. Fox News Digital.
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The morale of CBP officers became a growing concern. Fourteen officers committed suicide this year – the highest total in more than a decade. Christopher Olivarez, a staff lieutenant with the Texas Highway Patrol, said it was crucial that the Biden administration see the results of its policies.
“It is imperative that the federal government leadership visit the southern border,” Olivarez told Fox News Digital. “Conversations with border residents, farmers, law enforcement and public officials are the only way to understand the magnitude of this current border crisis and develop comprehensive strategies that effectively implement a controlled migration process.”
