Karine Jean-Pierre defends White House's handling of border crisis
In her statements on Thursday, Jean-Pierre called on Congress to take necessary actions to approve spending $4 billion for additional resources along the border.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the Biden administration's response to the border crisis during a press briefing Thursday.
When asked about border, Jean-Pierre told reporters, "What Americans should know is that the president has done the work to deal with what we're seeing at the border since day one."
She also criticized Republicans for executing "political stunts."
"We continue to see political stunts from many Republicans out there and that's not how we're going to fix this issue. They want to secure the border, we've been doing that work on our own, and we're asking them to hey, you know what [sic], there's an immigration reform plan that the president put out on the first day, they should work with us and do this in a bipartisan way," she said.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Dec. 8, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Some criticized Jean-Pierre on Twitter for defending President Biden's record on the border despite a record influx of illegal immigrants under his watch.
Republican National Committee rapid response staffer Jake Schneider tweeted, "This might be the most egregious lie I've heard from this pathetic administration. Anyone with eyeballs can see Democrats haven't done jack to secure the border."
Steve Guest, special advisor for communications for Sen. Ted Cruz, described Jean-Pierre's assertion as "laughable" and tweeted an image from Fox News' Bill Melugin of over 1,000 people illegally crossing into El Paso, Texas.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talks to reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Sept. 28, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In response to Jean-Pierre's argument that the Biden administration has been securing the border, Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., tweeted, "What? How? Where? When".
Tommy Pigott, rapid response director for the RNC, tweeted, "Biden on the border last week: 'There's more important things going on.' If Biden actually went to the border, he would know his administration is lying when they say the border is secure."
Breitbart's Wendell Husebo tweeted a one word response to Jean-Pierre's comments: "Propaganda".
Haitian migrants, part of a group of over 10,000 people staying in an encampment on the U.S. side of the border, cross the Rio Grande to get food and water in Mexico, after another crossing point was closed near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on Sept. 19, 2021. (PAUL RATJE/AFP via Getty Images)
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows a record 856 illegal immigrants were killed attempting to cross into the United States in fiscal year 2022.
White House assistant press secretary Abdullah Hasan told Fox News on Friday that Jean-Pierre was calling the "bluff" of Republicans with her comments.
"What work have Republican officials done to secure the border besides vote against our record border funding requests and block plans to fix our broken immigration system? White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called their bluff – of course they’re upset," Hasan said.
Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this story. This story has been updated with a response from the White House.