On Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s administration announced its decision to snef 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of an expected surge in illegal immigrants awaiting the end of pandemic-era restrictions.
But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed Monday that illegal immigration was down by 90 percent — and it almost immediately backfired.
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On Monday, Jean-Pierre fielded questions about President Joe Biden’s call to “finish the job”
A reporter asked her, “How does the president want to address this challenge of illegal immigration? A lot of people coming here. And is this one of the issues which he considers his job not done, job not finished?”
Jean-Pierre responded with a blatant lie.
“He’s put forth some — he has tools that he’s used to — to make sure that we do this — we actually deal with the immigration system in a humane way, and in a — in a way that is that — that actually deals with what we’re seeing at the border,” Jean-Pierre said.
“And that’s why you’ve seen the parolee program be so successful. It has — it has — it has — when it comes to illegal migration, you’ve seen it come down by more than 90 percent, and that’s because of this act- — the actions that this President has taken.”
Twitter fact-checked Jean-Pierre’s remark. “2022 had 2.76 million illegal border crossings, more than doubling the previous record,” the outlet said, citing three mainstream outlets. “Migrant border crossings haven’t decreased. March 2023 saw a 25% increase in border crossings.”
Some pundits also expressed disbelief. “Which is why the Biden administration is now sending 1,500 troops to the border to militarize it,” said conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller, not to be confused with the former White House advisor of the same name.
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Jean-Pierre also blamed the border crisis on Congress’s lack of action.
Take a look —
Which is why the Biden admin is now sending 1,500 troops to the border to militarize it. https://t.co/h6zclyONQz
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 2, 2023
A day after her lie, Jean-Pierre announced Biden’s decision to deploy 1,500 troops to the border.
Military personnel will do data entry, warehouse support, and other administrative tasks so that U.S. Customs and Border Protection can focus on stopping illegal immigrants, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
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The troops “will not be performing law enforcement functions or interacting with immigrants, or migrants,” Jean-Pierre said. “This will free up Border Patrol agents to perform their critical law enforcement duties.”
The troops will carry out this support for 90 days, said Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, “until CBP can address these needs through contracted support.”
The Pentagon on Tuesday approved the request for troops by DHS, which manages the border, one of the officials said. It’s unclear when the troops would be deployed.
The COVID-19 restrictions allowed U.S. officials to turn away tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, but those restrictions will lift May 11, and border officials are bracing for an expected surge of migrants. Even amid the restrictions, the administration has reportedly seen record numbers of people crossing the border.
As of Tuesday, there are already 2,500 National Guard members at the border, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
It’s been described as unusual for a president to deploy the military domestically, but the move has a recent precedent.
Former President Donald Trump deployed active-duty troops to the border to assist border patrol personnel in processing large migrant caravans, on top of National Guard forces already working in that capacity.
But Biden’s deployments have a catch. As a condition for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s previous approval of National Guard troops to support the border mission throughout fiscal year 2023, which ends this Oct. 1, DHS had to agree to work with the White House and Congress “to develop a plan and implement solutions to staffing and funding shortfalls to maintain border security and the safe, orderly, and humane processing of migrants that do not involve the continued use of DOD personnel and resources after FY2023,” said Pentagon spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Devin Robinson.
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As part of the agreement, DOD requested quarterly updates from DHS on how it would staff its border mission without service members throughout this fiscal year; it was not immediately clear if those updates have happened or if DHS will be able to meet its terms of the agreement — particularly under the strain of another migrant surge.
DHS said the request for a temporary surge of extra troops is part of their effort to get ready to fully assume the border mission, including their effort to enact measures to reduce migration, improve processing and speed removal of illegal immigrants.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is investing in technology and personnel to reduce its need for DOD support in coming years, and we continue to call on Congress to support us in this task,” the agency said in a statement.
With this deployment, Biden may be trying to rebuild his public image during his re-election campaign.
Jean-Pierre downplayed any similarity to how Biden is handling the migrant surge compared to Trump’s use of troops during his term.
“DOD personnel have been supporting CBP at the border for almost two decades now,” Jean-Pierre said. “So this is a common practice.”
The Associated Press and the Horn editorial team contributed to this article