‘Political stunt’: White House dings GOP leader McCarthy for border visit
Naomi Lim
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The White House has lashed out at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) before his press conference at the southern border about Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced McCarthy’s event as a “political stunt” devoid of policy solutions as Mayorkas’s department last week reported 230,678 illegal immigrants were apprehended attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border last month, the highest October total in DHS history.
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“What is his plan? What is he doing to help the situation that we’re seeing?” she said during Tuesday’s press briefing. “He goes down there and he does a political stunt, like many Republicans do, that we have seen them do, [and] not put forth a plan.”
Jean-Pierre also singled out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for voting against Biden’s “request for record funding to support the hard-working men and women at the Department of Homeland Security,” amounting to $56.7 billion for fiscal 2023.
Biden’s own proposals include a “comprehensive immigration plan,” introduced on the first day of his administration almost two years ago, Jean-Pierre said, before encouraging Republicans to work with the president.
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“We’ve partnered with Mexico and Guatemala to tackle the criminal smuggling networks preying on immigrants,” she added. “Those efforts have already resulted in thousands of arrests … and we’re stopping fentanyl before it even makes it to the streets of the United States.”
McCarthy is expected to tour the border and meet with U.S. Border Patrol employees in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, in addition to making a “major” announcement about Mayorkas.
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