The White House was given two opportunities to reject Mexico’s leader calling President Biden “the migrant president” but opted against doing so both times.
Mexico is “an important partner” in stemming the flow of Central American migrants arriving at or crossing the United States’s southern border, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki when asked to respond to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s description of Biden.
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Psaki, though, did concede Thursday “more may have come to our border” given Biden’s decision to “humanely approach immigration” and to treat unaccompanied minors “with humanity.” Those lines were jabs at former President Donald Trump and his hard-line immigration and border policies, which the new administration considers inhumane.
But while U.S. border officials deal with a record migrant surge putting pressure on federal resources, Psaki insisted “the majority of people” arriving at the boundary are being “turned away.”
“Statistics bear that out,” she told reporters, referring to coronavirus measures that were carried over from the Trump administration.
When asked again by another reporter, Psaki was adamant the White House’s position remains “that the border is not open.”
“Now is not the time to come,” she repeated after mixed messages from other officials who have briefed from her podium.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this month, “We are not saying don’t come. We are saying don’t come now.” Biden’s border czar, southern border Ambassador Roberta Jacobson, then mistakenly said Wednesday, “La frontera no esta cerrada,” or “the border is not closed.”
She later corrected herself, though her initial verbal misstep could be used south of the border to convince some to leave their homes and head due north.
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Obrador told Reuters this week the U.S. and Mexico needed to “work together to regulate the flow because this business can’t be tackled from one day to the next.”
“They see him as the ‘migrant president,’ and so many feel they’re going to reach the United States,” he said.
