The Biden administration’s handling of migrants arriving at the southern border was “never going to satisfy everyone” while Republicans are “licking their chops” to politicize the issue, the White House said Friday.
“This is a challenging issue, and we knew that it would be when the president changed the policies of the former administration,” press secretary Jen Psaki said, referring to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb immigration to the United States. “Some think we should be welcoming many more across our borders.”
Biden officials have fielded criticism over the administration’s migration policies, including from Democrats who have balked at the reopening of several Trump-era housing facilities early in Biden’s presidency and the continued use of a public health rule that allows the U.S. to deport people immediately.
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Last week, the White House drew further rebuke from the Left after announcing it would not lift a cap on the number of refugees who can resettle in the U.S., a campaign pledge, and planned to keep the Trump administration’s limit in place. Within hours, the White House walked this back, pledging instead to announce an unspecified total of refugee admissions by May 15.
“Because of flights resuming, we’ve seen an increase even just over the last week,” Psaki said.
While the White House has rebuffed suggestions that the number of refugees allowed to settle in the country is tied to the number of arrivals along the U.S-Mexico border, President Joe Biden linked the two while speaking to reporters last weekend.
He also called the southern border situation a “crisis,” a term the White House has avoided.
“We’re gonna increase the numbers,” Biden said of the cap. “The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people, and we couldn’t do two things at once. And now we’re going to increase the numbers.”
Republicans and some Democrats have called on Biden to resume stricter immigration policies for people entering the country illegally in what has rapidly become a cudgel for the administration’s political opponents.
“We were never going to satisfy everyone,” Psaki said amid a series of questions on the issues.
“Some supporters of the former president and some Republicans in Congress apparently are licking their chops about how to make children a political issue,” Psaki added. “We don’t see it that way.”
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Asked on Friday when the White House planned to lift a public health rule used by Trump and Biden to deport arrivals immediately, Psaki said she didn’t know.
“I can’t make a prediction of that,” she said, adding that the decision would be informed by health and medical guidance.
Upon taking office, Biden officials ceased using it to expel children and some families, whose numbers have overwhelmed federal capacity.
