Thursday 15 September 2022 08:59 PM Biden's press secretary blames TRUMP for border chaos and slams 'cruel' Texas ... trends now
The White House hit back at Republican governors who are sending migrants to Washington, calling their actions 'cruel' and 'inhumane,' on Thursday after dozens were dumped outside the vice president's official residence.
Instead, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shrugged off questions about whether the border was secure to blame the Trump administration for a broken system.
It comes as Republicans step up their attacks on the Biden administration for border security as they try to make immigration the theme of November's midterm elections.
'What I can tell you is the record and the process that we have been using to make sure that we do our best to secure the border,' Jean-Pierre said from the podium.
'We do our best to make sure that we fix a broken system that was left behind by the last administration.'
She suggested a lengthy but uncertain timeline for fixing a system that she said was in 'fundamental' disrepair.
'We understand it's not like flipping a light switch. This does not happen overnight,' the Biden official said.
'This is an immigration system that is fundamentally broken.'
It comes after Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida made headlines on Thursday morning for having sent migrants to two areas of symbolic significance in return for Democrat-led downplaying of the border crisis.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Governors Abbott and DeSantis' actions sending migrants up north 'cruel' and 'inhumane'
'I'll keep saying that it is inhumane. It is cruel, what they're doing to children and to families,' Jean-Pierre said.
DeSantis took credit for sending Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard, a Northeastren playground for the Democratic elite, on Wednesday night. Abbott sent two buses of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris' residence that arrived on Thursday morning.
Jean-Pierre saved venomous words for DeSantis in particular, whose Martha's Vineyard passengers were primarily people fleeing the oppressive Maduro regime.
Sending asylum-seekers there, she said, is a 'cruel, inhumane way to treat people who are fleeing communism.'
Harris ignored questions from reporters about the migrants who were bussed to her Washington DC residence on Thursday morning. Asylum-seekers claimed they strolled across the border easily - days after she insisted it was 'secure.'
Harris made the declaration in a Sunday interview and has now found herself in the midst of an attack by Abbott against Democrat immigration rules.
She was asked her thoughts on the situation by a pool reporter after giving a speech at the United Against Hate Summit, at the White House.
Harris appeared caught of guard when she was quizzed by a reporter regarding the situation outside her own home in Washington DC
But she chose to ignore the question, and carried on walking to her next meeting in Blair House across from the White House.
One unidentified man filmed outside the Naval Observatory on Thursday told Fox News: 'The border is open, not closed. Everybody believes that the border is open.
'It is open because we enter. We come in free, no problem. We came illegally, not legally.'
His words come just four days after Harris told NBC News: 'The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed.
'We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.'
But the vice president's words were made to seem hollow, thanks to Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision to dispatch two buses containing 101 illegal immigrants from Eagle Pass in the Lone Star State to the nation's capital.
He did so as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planes filled with migrants to ritzy Martha's Vineyard island, off the coast of Massachusetts.
Many migrants who arrived from Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico told Fox News that they thought the border was open
The GOP leaders say they're keen for liberals who espouse 'sanctuary cities' to experience the full effects of uncontrolled immigration, which has hit Texas border cities including Del Rio and El Paso very hard.
Those who arrived on the bus said that they had travelled from Venezuela, with many women, children and families smiling as they got off the vehicles.
Abbott appears to have directly retaliated to Harris' comments about border security, by sending the latest load of migrants close to her home in DC.
The Texas governor has sent hundreds of the migrants to Washington, DC, New York City and Chicago in recent weeks, but has yet to publicly comment on this latest escalation.
It comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis bragged about sending two planes of migrants to affluent Martha's Vineyard and El Paso is becoming 'overwhelmed' by the number of those crossing the border illegally.
Areas targeted by GOP governors all bill themselves as migrant-friendly 'sanctuary cities,' with Abbott saying he's keen to show them the scale of the challenge his border cities are facing from the ongoing influx.
In a statement he said: 'The Biden-Harris Administration continues ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years.
'Our supposed Border Czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, has yet to even visit the border to see firsthand the impact of the open border policies she has helped implement, even going so far as to claim the border is 'secure.'
'Texas will continue sending migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C. until President Biden and Border Czar Harris step up and do their jobs to secure the border.'
One of the migrants told reporters that the border is 'open' and 'everybody belives that the
