Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy and White House press secretary Jen Psaki went round and round today much more so than normal as Doocy tried to pin down answers from the Biden administration on a number of fronts related to the border crisis, such as the actual number of Haitian migrants who are here versus the number who have been sent back and wondering if President Biden has ever visited the southern border in his life and why he hasn’t to date as President in light of the explosion in migration we’ve seen in recent weeks.
As per the norm, Psaki gaslit and obfuscated throughout their at times testy exchanges, not ever giving a straight answer and at a couple of points giving him the equivalent of her infamous “circle back” response, which was particularly concerning on the issue of approximate numbers on the Haitian migrant situation, as you’ll soon see.
In the below two clips, Doocy pressed Psaki on just where reporters were supposed to get reliable information on how many Haitian migrants were here versus how many were sent back, considering Dept. of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has point-blank said he doesn’t have them. Psaki’s first answer was to refer Doocy … to DHS, incredibly enough, and then later said she’d get the numbers to him later today:
DOOCY TIME: “You’re telling us that the DHS chief has the most recent numbers about how many of these Haitians….have been sent back and how many have been released into the U.S. The DHS chief is telling us he doesn’t know, so who else can we ask?” pic.twitter.com/4rRipqGIbJ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 22, 2021
Doocy: “Is this an issue of not knowing or is this an issue of a lot more people are being released into the U.S. then are being sent out?”
Psaki: “That is certainly not the issue.” pic.twitter.com/8mpjikTv7n
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 22, 2021
In another exchange, Doocy called out Psaki for the administration constantly falling back on Title 42, which he found interesting considering Biden promised during his campaign that he was going to gut Trump’s illegal immigration policies and throw open the border. Psaki’s only “defense” was to play word games by proclaiming Title 42 “is not an immigration policy”:
Doocy: “Just because you keep using Title 42 to defend this administration’s immigration policies, that is a Trump-era regulation. You guys came in saying that the Trump-era immigration policy was very inhumane.”
Psaki: “Title 42 is not an immigration policy.” pic.twitter.com/Y9bXa0NjAD
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 22, 2021
Doocy also wanted answers as to if Biden has ever visited the southern border, a question Psaki didn’t have the answer to and said she’d have to get back with him on. When Doocy inquired as to why Biden just doesn’t go to Del Rio to see for himself what’s going on, Psaki lamely answered that he relies on “all his experiences to inform how he governs.”
Watch:
DOOCY: “This is a president who makes a point when there’s disasters — to go and see for himself what the needs are of the local community… Why doesn’t he go down to Del Rio, Texas.”@PressSec: “He uses all his experiences to inform how he governs.” pic.twitter.com/pl6f8IJ0xt
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 22, 2021
But if he hasn’t visited the border directly himself, where’s that so-called “experience” on being able to better assess what steps you should take next and/or what you should fine-tune in your existing policy going forward? I mean especially considering Vice President Harris can hardly be bothered to do it herself?
Biden won’t visit the border and Harris had to be shamed by Trump in making the lone visit she has, which was in El Paso and not where the bigger problems are. I think it’s safe to say that this country is rowing upstream without a paddle, and with a “captain” who can’t make a move without his handlers staging it and a co-captain who half the time is MIA and who also simply isn’t very good at what she does.
The good news in all this, though? Not a mean tweet in sight. Aren’t you so relieved?
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