White House pushes back on anger from advocates over Biden’s Title 42 expansion
Christian Datoc
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The White House is attempting to push back on outrage voiced from some humanitarian groups and Democratic lawmakers in response to President Joe Biden‘s decision to expand Title 42 to deal with the crisis at the Southern Border.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby briefed reporters Friday ahead of Biden’s upcoming trip to Mexico, where he said the White House “obviously” does not agree with the assessment that Biden’s new policy amounts to a “humanitarian crisis.”
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“We take a different view,” he responded to a question on the subject. “This is a president who understands that safe and legal immigration into this country is a key cornerstone of our own security and prosperity, and that he is advancing ways to improve those legal pathways to entry.”
Kirby noted that Biden has “dramatically increased the number of refugees” the U.S. is admitting from countries in the Western hemisphere and claimed there is a difference between cracking down on illegal immigration compared to limiting legal immigration like the Trump administration sought to do.
“It’s a balance, and the president’s trying to strike that balance,” he concluded. “If you take a look at the package, you’ll see that it is very humane in its structure, but we’ve got to have the help from members of Congress, and this is not something that he hasn’t focused on. In fact, he has been focused on it since the very first day.”
Four Democrats, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Alex Padilla (D-CA), sent a letter to the White House Thursday condemning Biden’s policy announcement.
“While we understand the challenges the nation is facing at the Southern border exacerbated by Republican obstruction to modernizing our immigration system, we are deeply disappointed by the Biden Administration’s decision to expand the use of Title 42,” the group wrote. “We are also concerned about the Administration’s new transit ban regulation that will disregard our obligations under international law by banning families from seeking asylum at the border, likely separating families and stranding migrants fleeing persecution and torture in countries unable to protect them.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Friday’s briefing in full below.
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