The Biden administration is “committed to transparency,” the White House said, despite limiting journalists access to the facilities housing unaccompanied migrant children apprehended in increasing numbers at the southern border.
“We remain committed to doing that,” press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, asked whether journalists would soon be permitted to visit. The administration has rebuffed media requests to visit the detention centers or mirror the access previously granted by the Trump administration.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MUZZLES BORDER OFFICIALS AMID SURGE OF MIGRANTS
Psaki said the White House would go through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the centers, or the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Border Patrol.
“We want to work with them to ensure we can do it respecting the privacy and obviously the health protocols required by COVID, and obviously privacy concerns,” she said.
Asked about a timeline for access, Psaki said she did not have any updates, “but it’s certainly something we support.”
The Biden administration is also limiting journalists’ access to top Customs and Border Protection agency spokespeople and officials amid the escalating crisis, where an increase in the number of children seeking asylum has overwhelmed detention and border patrol facilities.
“We remain committed to sharing with all of you data on the number of kids crossing the border, the steps we’re taking, the work we’re doing to open up facilities, our own bar we’re setting for ourselves, and improving and expediting the timeline and the treatment of these children, and we remain committed to transparency,” Psaki said.
While single adults are returned immediately after entering the country illegally, children and some families are taken into custody.
However, a surge in numbers at the U.S.-Mexico border has quickly overburdened the system.
The White House has declined to label the issue a crisis, instead calling it a “challenge” and seeking to distance itself from the prior administration, which effectively shut down the asylum process during the coronavirus crisis through immediate deportations.
Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies were also a target of Democrats during the presidential race, and Biden has faced criticism for reopening some Trump-era childrens’ facilities.
After Biden took office in January, he walked back Trump’s strict policies for children.
“The situation on the ground is certainly challenging, in part, because we inherited a dismantled system that wasn’t prepared for processing asylum requests,” Psaki said.
“We fully support transparency, and I would encourage you to talk to the president of Homeland Security about any requests you have for press access or what you’re looking to accomplish at the border,” she added.
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Psaki also repeated comments made by Biden in an interview Tuesday evening that migrants should refrain from coming to the border.
