White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shot down a criticism from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Tuesday regarding her past comments about migration at the southern border.
Cruz, responding to Jean-Pierre’s claim that migrants aren’t illegally crossing the border on foot, invited Jean-Pierre to visit the border with him to witness the crossings in person.
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“I’ve been to the border. I went in 2018. I stood outside facilities where the Trump administration was separating families, tearing babies out of their mother’s arms,” she said when asked about Cruz’s comments during Tuesday’s press briefing. “Some of those kids still haven’t been reunited with their families, and so, one thing I will say is I certainly don’t need lectures or invitations from Republicans about the border or border policies.”
Jean-Pierre further criticized the Texas senator for voting against funding for the Department of Homeland Security included in President Joe Biden’s budget requests.
“While folks are sending invites, I’ll use this opportunity to, to invite him or anyone else next time to vote for record funding for DHS, as President Biden has requested,” she said.
Later during the briefing, Jean-Pierre did address the drowning of 10 migrants seeking to cross the Rio Grande to gain access to the country.
“That is tragic. When we hear news like that, our hearts go out to the families, certainly, and that is why we try to work very hard to secure the border and make sure that we don’t see those types of tragedies and heartbreaks,” Jean-Pierre said. “The Department of Homeland Security is working very hard on continuing to secure our border, to do work that was not done in the past several years, and so, we’re going to continue to focus on that.”
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You can watch Tuesday’s briefing in full below.
