The White House defended President Joe Biden’s knowledge of the situation at the southwestern border during Friday’s press briefing, which followed a town hall meeting in which he appeared to acknowledge he was due for another visit.
Press secretary Jen Psaki alternated between defending Biden’s experience with the issue and arguing that a border “photo-op” would do little to solve the migration surge.
“Why did the president say [last night that] he has been to the border?” Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked.
“He did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008,” Psaki replied. “He is certainly familiar with the fact, and it stuck with him, with the fact that in El Paso, the border goes right through the center of town.”
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She continued by saying Biden visited Mexico and Central America 10 times during his time serving as vice president for President Barack Obama, arguing that those trips sufficed since those countries are where many immigrant journeys originate.
“He does not need a visit to the border to know what a mess was left by the last administration,” Psaki said, citing the “kids in cages” controversy and a series of immigration policies Democrats campaigned against last year.
“You’re saying he drove by [the border] for a few minutes. Does that count?” Doocy asked.
“There is a focus right now on a photo-op,” Psaki said. “The president does not believe a photo-op is the same as solutions.”
“I’ve been there before, and I haven’t — I mean, I know it well,” Biden said during CNN’s town hall on Thursday night, before acknowledging, “I guess I should go down.”
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Psaki was then asked whether conditions at the border had changed in the last 13 years.
“Aside from the fact that migrants are still coming to the border through the course of Democratic and Republican presidents and that the need to reform the immigration system is even further overdue, no,” Psaki said. “But we need to work with Democrats and Republicans to get that done.”
