Politics

President Biden Tells Illegal Immigrants ‘Don’t Come Over’ After Migrants Overwhelm Border Facilities

President Joe Biden speaks on ABC News in an exclusive interview [Twitter/Screenshot/Public User: Evan McMurry]

[Twitter/Screenshot/Public User: Evan McMurry]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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President Joe Biden said in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos Tuesday night that migrants shouldn’t come to the U.S. as the southern border sees a flood of migrants and unaccompanied children.

“Do you have to say quite clearly, ‘Don’t come’?” Stephanopoulos asks the presidents.

“Yes, I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over,” Biden said. “Don’t leave your town or city or community.”

Biden also claimed that there has been a surge at the border during both 2019 and 2020. (RELATED: Biden’s Immigration Policies Caused The Ongoing Border Crisis, Republican Study Committee Says)

“First of all, there was a surge in the last two years,” Biden said in a clip from the exclusive interview. “In ’19 and ’20, there was a surge, as well.”

Pew Research notes that February’s migrant apprehension was higher than the average monthly figure and that the U.S. only saw a similar surge in 2019. Pew Research notes that former President Donald Trump responded to the situation by enacting a series of restrictions like his ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy which Biden has since rescinded.

The number of migrant children illegally crossing the southern border has exceeded federal ability to hold them, internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) show, according to Axios. The documents reportedly show that during the final week of February, Border Patrol referred roughly 321 migrant children to HHS custody daily. Child migrant crossings averaged 203 per day in late January and just 47 during the first week of January.

A spokesperson from the HHS confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that facilities housing migrant children can operate at full capacity despite coronavirus concerns.

The federal government has also held juvenile migrants who crossed the border for 77 hours, longer than the 72 hours allowed under law, according to CNN.

The Biden Administration has refused to call the situation a crisis.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to confirm reports that there were a record number of unaccompanied minors flooding the border. Psaki also classified the situation at the border as a “challenge” rather than a crisis.