“We will increase the numbers. The problem was that the refugee section was dealing with the crisis that ended up on the border with young people, and we could not do two things at once. And now we are going to increase the numbers,” Biden said.
On Monday, the White House tried to downplay the words, claiming that Biden was referring to the conditions in Northern Triangle countries where migrants come from, and not the rise of migrant children in U.S. custody.
“No, there is no change of position. Children coming to our border to hide from violence, economic hardship and other dire circumstances are no crisis,” a White House official told CNN.
The official said Biden “refers to the crisis in Central America – the dire conditions for which many people are fleeing. He is not referring to the reaction of the Federal Government.”
The official added: ‘The federal government’s response and process is laser-focused to find solutions that enable us to address these root causes, expand the capacity space and transfer children quickly to family members. We remain focused on getting children out of CBP facilities, in the right facilities, and ultimately uniting with family members or sponsors who are safe and controlled. ‘
White House press secretary Jen Psaki made the same distinction later Monday afternoon.
“The president does not believe that children who come to our border seek refuge from violence, economic hardship and other appalling conditions, is a crisis. He does feel that the crisis in Central America – the appalling conditions for which many people flight – that this is a situation we need to spend time or effort on, and we need to address it if we are to prevent more influx of migrants over the coming years, ‘Psaki said at the press briefing on Monday.
Biden used the word crisis to describe the situation at the border, after Psaki, Interior Minister Alejandro Mayorkas, and Roberta Jacobson, the senior administration overseeing the border, refused to do so for the entire month of March. as such. This is at least nine times that Psaki and others have been insisted on by reporters.
Psaki did not want to ‘put new labels on it’ when asked if the government had a crisis on the border on 25 February.
On March 1, Mayorkas emphatically said ‘the answer is no’ when asked if there was a crisis, and rather said that there is a ‘challenge at the border we are managing’.
On March 2, Psaki reiterated that the administration would “approach it without labeling.” She again refused to describe it as a crisis on March 5, March 9 and March 10 when asked directly if she would attribute the word ‘crisis’ to the situation.
As of March 9, more than 3,200 minor minors were in custody, according to internal agency documents checked by CNN.
Jacobson repeats the attitude on March 10, saying, “I’m not trying to be cute here, but I think the fact is: we have to do what we do, no matter what anyone calls the situation.”
By March 11, when there were about 4,500 children in CBP supervision, Psaki told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “It doesn’t matter what you call it. It’s a huge challenge.”
On March 18, Psaki briefly described the situation as a ‘crisis at the border’, but later in the briefing asked if there was a change in the administration’s view, and she explained that there were ‘challenges at the border’.
Psaki pressed once again on March 22, saying: ‘Children present at our border fleeing violence, fleeing persecution, fleeing horrific situations are not a crisis. We feel it is our responsibility to approach these circumstances humanely and ensure that they are treated and placed in safe conditions, further saying that the administration has focused on ‘solutions’.
But the average time in CBP supervision for unaccompanied migrant children is still well above the legal limit of 72 hours, according to data obtained by CNN, about 122 hours.
HHS oversees a shelter network for migrant children and has opened a series of pop-up websites to house children until they, like a parent or family member, can be released on bail in the United States. As a result, the number of children in HHS supervision has increased: as of last week, there were 19,798 children in HHS supervision.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.