Biden questioned on immigration, filibuster, 2024 in first news presidential news conference
On Thursday President Biden declared that he makes “no apologies” for ending a range of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, including the Migrant Protection Protocols , also called the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Biden’s comments came 65 days into his admin at his first live press briefing as president, and amid a migrant surge crisis at the southern border.
Biden was asked if he maybe moved too quickly to remove some of Trump admin’s immigration policies, by executive order, but he was quick to defend his decisions.
“First of all, all the policies that were underway were not helping at all, did not slow up the amount of immigration,” Biden said. “Rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers? Make no apology for that.”
“Rolling back the policies of “Remain in Mexico,’ sitting on the edge of the Rio Grande in a muddy circumstance with not enough to eat? I make no apologies for that,” Biden said. “I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law — international law — as well as on human dignity. And so I make no apologies for that.”
Immigration was a serious topic of Biden’s press conference, taking up most of the amount of time during the approximately hour-long affair.
President Biden also threatened to back the changes to the filibuster in the Senate and saying it’s his “expectation” that he’ll run for a re-election in 2024.
Biden also said North Korea is his top foreign policy issue and ripped GOP state voting legislation, saying it makes “Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.”
The reporters also pushed Biden on the migrant crisis at hand, and whether he will allow the news media to view migrant facilities on the border regularly. Biden says he intends to, but only after his administration begins to implement certain actions.
“I will commit when my plan very shortly is underway to let you have access to not just them,” Biden said referring to facilities where children are being processed, but other facilities as well. “I will commit to transparency.”
Biden continued to emphasize that the overwhelming majority of people who law enforcement encounters on the border are being sent back, and that it is his administration’s goal to not let in most family units who are found crossing the border.
“Some families are not going back because Mexico is refusing to take them back. Some, not all,” the president said in his first news conference on Thursday. In fact, in February, most families were allowed to stay in the United States.
“We’re in negotiations with Mexico. That’s going to change. They should all be going back,” Biden continued.
In January, CBP expelled 4,546 family units under the Trump-era health order, Title 42, out of 7,294 encounters. That is the equivalent of just over 62%.
In February, in a shift, most families were allowed to stay in the United States pending a decision on whether they will be expelled.
There were 19,246 total encounters with migrant families on the southern border in February. Of those encounters, 7,915 were expelled from the country under Title 42, and 11,331 were allowed to remain.