President Joe Biden responded with a joke after he was asked about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sending migrants to Delaware.
After delivering remarks on the DISCLOSE Act from the White House, reporters began shouting questions at the president.
“Why is the border more overwhelmed under your watch, Mr. President?” one reporter asked.
Biden replied, “Because there are three countries that are, never have, there are fewer, fewer immigrants coming from Central America and from Mexico. This is a totally different circumstance. What’s on my watch now is Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.”
He added, “And the ability to send them back to those states is not rational. You could send them back and have them…We’re working with Mexico and other countries to see if we can stop the flow. But that’s the difference. Thank you.”
After answering the question, Biden proceeded to walk out of the room.
Another reporter then shouted, “DeSantis sending these migrants to Delaware. Do you have any comment or response to that., sir?”
Biden joked, “He should come visit. We have a beautiful shoreline.”
Watch Biden’s comments below:
Reporter: "Why is the border more open than ever under your watch?"
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 20, 2022
Biden: "There are fewer immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico. This is a totally different circumstance." pic.twitter.com/hMOoXbsg4R
DeSantis made headlines recently after sending migrants on planes to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
During an appearance on Fox News Monday night, DeSantis responded to a Texas sheriff’s decision to launch an investigation into the matter, as IJR reported.
The governor told the network the migrants “signed consent forms to go” to Martha’s Vineyard.
“And then the vendor that is doing this for Florida, provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha’s Vineyard, it had the numbers for different services on Martha’s Vineyard and then it had numbers for the overall agencies in Massachusetts that handle things involving immigration and refugees,” DeSantis said.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the White House said it was aware that there were reports of a flight bringing migrants to an area near Biden’s Delaware vacation home.
The administration said it would work with state and local officials to assist in the event that migrants do arrive, as Reuters noted.