The White House coordinator for the southern border, Roberta Jacobson, says President Joe Biden’s immigration policy is a “more humane system,” but it does not mean “open borders.”
CNN’s “New Day” host John Berman noted Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the migrants see Biden as the “migrant president.”
Jacobson replied, “I think what President López Obrador is reflecting is the fact that President Biden came into office with a much more humane message, with a message that we were going to enforce our laws but also have a humane migration system.”
She continued, “I think what he means is that we are going to treat people fairly. We are going to reform our immigration system and so while I understand what he was saying, I think it’s not the way we would put it. It is a more human system but it is not open borders.”
Watch her comments below:
Amb. Roberta Jacobson, White House coordinator for the southern border, says the Biden administration is fighting back against messaging along the border.
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) March 16, 2021
“The smuggler's message is very pervasive… they prey on [people's] hope and they tell them things that simply aren't true.” pic.twitter.com/6s3ayP5mem
Berman noted Jacobson has discussed the “message manipulation” taking place among smugglers to families and children coming to the United States.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said he talked to migrants who claimed they heard from their friends and neighbors coming across the border instead of Biden.
“It has to be a strong message because, with all due respect, the administration’s message is not coming through,” Cuellar said.
He asked Jacobson why Biden’s message is not reaching migrants.
The White House official explained, “I think you have to understand that the smugglers are agile and quick and word of mouth gets through and they are exploiting people’s hope and desperation.”
Jacobson added, “The smuggler’s message is very pervasive. They prey on people and they prey on their hope and they tell them things that simply aren’t true.”
The Biden administration faces a growing challenge as the number of unaccompanied minors arriving at the southern border has increased.
According to CNN, more than 4,000 children have been stuck at facilities run by Border Patrol “akin to jail-like conditions.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was pressed on what the administration’s plan is to get the situation under control.
Watch his remarks below:
Secretary of Homeland Security @AliMayorkas details to @GStephanopoulos how the Biden administration is addressing the migrant surge at the border. https://t.co/Weuf9iDrdE pic.twitter.com/etYLrtLRZA
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 16, 2021
Mayorkas explained the United States is “expelling families” amid the pandemic under the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authority as well as single adults.
“What we are doing is addressing young children who come to the border to make claims under the humanitarian laws that our country has established years and years ago,” Mayorkas said.
He added, “And we are building the capacity to address the needs of those children when they arrive but we are also and critically sending an important message that now is not the time to come to the border.”