The White House often has refused to call the immigration situation at the border chaotic, but President Joe Biden acknowledged to reporters that there has been "chaos at the border for a number of years."
Wen a reporter asked him Wednesday to clarify a statement he'd made the day before that the situation would be "chaotic for awhile," Biden said, "We've had chaos at the border for a number of years" and that "we have to fully fund the border security effort," according to a White House readout.
Biden added that the administration is in the process of "making legal immigration more streamlined, illegal immigration shorter term and moving in a direction that people know that there's a legal way to get here and a not legal way. That's what's underway now."
Since taking office, Biden has rejected several of former President Donald Trump's border policies, including failing to extend the Title 42 pandemic policy, which is expected to cause more migrants to try to enter the U.S.
Biden also was asked Wednesday about the role Mexico is taking in the border situation and if he would consider sending additional U.S. troops to the border, after his announcement earlier this month that 1,500 troops were being sent in a supporting role for the Border Patrol.
Biden said he "spent an hour" with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Tuesday and found him to be "very cooperative."
Biden also said Obrador is "supportive of making sure we have way stops in Colombia and other countries where people can make their case [for asylum]."
On possibly sending more troops to the border, Biden replied "yes" but did not say how many.
"The troops are there to free up the Border Patrol people to be able to do their job," Biden said.
Biden also blamed Congress for not addressing border security, saying he had asked lawmakers for "a lot more money for the Border Patrol" but "they didn't do it. They've made it harder."
"What we want to do at the border is have it work and function in the way it's designed to work," said Biden. "That requires us having more immigration officers, more asylum judges, a whole range of things [like] more personnel. And I'm trying to do as much of that as I can."
Meanwhile, House Republicans were set to vote on the Secure the Border Act on Thursday, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., told Newsmax. Biden has threatened to veto the legislation.
The bill aims to restrict asylum and build more border wall while cutting a program allowing migrants a chance to stay in the U.S. lawfully for two years, according to reports.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., on Thursday denied that Republicans have remained on the sideline in the border crisis, saying most of the problems being seen now were created by Biden early in his presidency to stop border-wall construction, reinstate catch-and-release, and to stop the "Remain in Mexico" policy and the agreements with the Northern Triangle countries.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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