The White House is increasingly emphasizing that immigrants arriving at the southern border are coming from communist and other authoritarian countries amid the latest surge, a problem since President Joe Biden took office.
“These folks are fleeing communism,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan repeated the White House line that undocumented immigrants at the border are being treated as “political pawns,” a reference to their being moved out of state by Republican governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis.
“And that’s what makes it so challenging for someone who works in the national security space to see anyone from one of those three countries, from Venezuela or Cuba or Nicaragua, be treated as some kind of pawn because these are people who are trying to escape brutal dictatorships,” Sullivan said.
“What I can tell you is that our heads-up did not come from Gov. DeSantis because his only goal is, as he’s made it really quite clear, is to create chaos and use immigrants fleeing communism as political pawns,” Jean-Pierre said. “So, it’s about creating political theater for him.”
Asked whether the White House has tried to reach an accommodation with the governors, Jean-Pierre continued, “I mean, there’s no understanding to be reached. They are using people who are leaving … communist countries as [a] political stunt … instead of maybe what they should do is call on their senators … in their state.”
“They have used the lives of people who are fleeing persecution from communist countries, using them as a political stunt,” she later added.
The Border Patrol has made 3,484,327 apprehensions of immigrants who were unauthorized to enter the United States in less than two years under the Biden administration. Republican governors have tried to illustrate the burden on border communities in their states.
The White House began using the communism line in response to immigrants being transported out of state by GOP Govs. DeSantis and Greg Abbott of Texas.
“Two Republican governors reportedly lured 100 asylum-seekers, including children, onto planes and buses with false premises and then abandoned them on the side of a busy road thousands of miles away with nothing but Ziploc bags of their belongings in hand,” Jean Pierre told reporters Friday. “These were children. They were moms. They were fleeing communism. And what did Gov. DeSantis and Gov. Abbott do to them? They used them as political pawns, treated them like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt.”
“And remember, these are people who are fleeing communism, who are fleeing hardship,” she said Thursday. “And if these governors truly care about border security, they should ask Texas Gov. [sic] Ted Cruz and Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott why they voted against the president’s request for record funding for the Department of Homeland Security.”
“So, this is what they have done,” Jean-Pierre continued. “Both senators, Sens. Marco Rubio, Sen. Rick Scott, have voted against, did not vote for this funding that would have helped the Department of Homeland Security. That is just a fact.”
DeSantis and Abbott are up for reelection as governors in their respective states. Rubio is also up this year for a third term in the Senate, facing Democratic challenger Val Demings. Scott is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee this cycle, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.
“When you think about Venezuela — what’s going on in Venezuela, when you think about what’s going on in Nicaragua, when you think about what’s going on in Cuba: They are fleeing political persecution only to be used as a political pawn by the Florida governor,” Jean-Pierre said. “And that is something that the people in Florida should be asking the governor: Why is he doing this?”
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Cuban Americans and Venezuelan Americans are important swing voters in Florida. Texas also has a large Hispanic population. In both states, these voters trended toward the GOP in 2020.
Jean-Pierre often declines to answer campaign-related questions from the podium due to Hatch Act constraints. But the White House has frequently sparred with DeSantis and Abbott, and the busing and flying of immigrants to liberal jurisdictions, including near the homes of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, has intensified the conflict.
