MSNBC host Joe Scarborough went after President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday over its policies for unaccompanied minors attempting to enter the U.S. at the southern border.
Scarborough said the administration was “luring” children to the border with its “permissive policies,” specifically to allow unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the U.S. and not be sent back to their home countries. (RELATED: Joe Biden Suggests He Wants To Bring Back A Trump-Era Immigration Policy For Asylum Seekers)
Co-host Mika Brzezinski began the segment of “Morning Joe” by playing a video clip of an exchange between White House press secretary Jen Psaki and a reporter about the border crisis. Psaki stated that children coming to the border who are fleeing violence and terrible situations “is not a crisis.” Psaki added that the administration is not going to send children who come to the U.S. unaccompanied back on a “treacherous journey.”
“I just have to say one more time … those children made the journey in the first place because the United States of America now is sending a message to those children, if you journey across the desert, you make a long and dangerous trip, we’re going to let you in. And we’re going to let you in if you’re unaccompanied,” Scarborough said after the video.
He continued, saying that the Biden administration is “luring” children to the border “with the promise of being able to get in.” He then said they needed to figure out a safe way to transport the children back home, but was interrupted by Brzezinski claiming the administration is “sending a different message now.”
“Not yesterday,” Scarborough responded, referring to Psaki’s exchange with the reporter. “And they’re also letting families that go and — that come across illegally, they’re letting families just dissolve into the country and not have a court date, not have a date to come back … this is what causes the border crisis.”
He went on to say that as long as the U.S. has a “permissive policy” on immigration, the country is “going to have a crisis at the border.” He said that it’s dangerous for the children to attempt the journey, and they’ll just keep coming until the country tells them it isn’t going to let them in.
Scarborough then stated the situation is also an “issue of fairness.” He explained that when he was in Congress he came across people who tried for years to go through “soul crushing” processes to get family members over from countries like Pakistan and India.
“And we have a policy that just allows people to come in illegally. It’s not fair. It’s not safe to the children. And the Biden administration has to understand, if they’re going to continue this policy, there aren’t enough hotel rooms in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California to hold all of the migrants that are going to be coming,” he concluded.
The Biden administration has been heavily criticized for its handling of the crisis at the border, as well as its apparent hesitation in calling the situation “a crisis.” Apprehensions of unaccompanied migrant children skyrocketed in February, with over 9,000 encountered at the border. The administration announced earlier in March that it would not expel unaccompanied minors from the U.S.