Karine Jean Pierre says Biden admin has 'always been ready' to act on immigration reform
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the Biden administration has "always been ready" to act on immigration.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the Biden administration has "always been ready" to act on immigration after criticizing Gov. Ron DeSantis', R-Fla., decision to send two planes with migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
Jean-Pierre sat down with MSNBC's Alex Wagner, who asked the White House press secretary if President Biden has attempted to reach out to Republican governors such as DeSantis or Greg Abbott, R-Texas, about them sending migrants to different parts of the U.S.
"I don’t know why we would reach out to a governor or governors who are clearly playing a political game. It is something they’re doing not to find a solution, but to literally put peoples' lives at risk," she said.
Jean-Pierre said the administration would continue to call out the "political game."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slams Ron DeSantis on MSNBC. (Screenshot/MSNBC/AlexWagnerTonight)
"Look, we are ready, we've always been ready, on day one, the president has said he's put forward his immigration legislation, a comprehensive piece of legislation and he's said let's figure out how do we fix this broken system. But instead, that's not what they want to do, they don't want to vote for a historic amount of funds that would go to DHS to deal with this issue, they don't want to work on a real solution, so we're going to call that out, Alex." she continued.
Jean-Pierre joined MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday and discussed the president's interview with "60 Minutes." She was asked about the Republican governors who were bussing migrants to major cities and places such as Martha's Vineyard.
"What you’re seeing from Gov. DeSantis is inhumane. It is not solving a problem. It’s not a solution. It’s causing chaos and confusion," she said.
She added that if she were DeSantis, she would have reached out to his Republican colleagues in the Senate about helping to solve the problems at the border.
NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO ENTERED US SINCE BIDEN TOO OFFICE APPROACHING 2 MILLION
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sits down with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday. (Screenshot/MSNBC/MorningJoe)
"We have had a broken system for many, many years. For decades. What the last administration did before us, they decimated the immigration system. So what we’re trying to do is, again, make sure that there is a humane process, and trying to fix what has been broken. But there is solutions on the table. Now, if Republicans would just do that and work with us on the solutions instead of doing these political ploys and using human beings as a political – as part of a political scam, that would be the way to go," Jean-Pierre said.
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Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a briefing at the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden reacted to the move by DeSantis on Thursday and accused Republicans of "playing politics."
"Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props. What they’re doing is simply wrong, it’s un-American, it’s reckless," Biden said.