CNN’s correspondent Rosa Flores called out President Joe Biden on Monday for not actually seeing the border crisis during his first trip ever to the nation’s southern border.
Biden spent approximately four hours in the El Paso area, where hundreds of illegal migrants have been living on the street. The president met with local nongovernmental organizations offering assistance to illegal migrants and federal law enforcement officials and local authorities.
John Martin, Director for the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, told the Daily Caller News Foundation he was disappointed Biden didn’t see the crisis first hand. Martin accompanied Biden at the migrant center.
“I didn’t care which shelter he visited or which hospitality side but it was my hope that he would actually be able to see what we’re seeing on the ground at this point,” Martin said.
Flores touched on the widespread criticism in her reporting Monday, saying Biden failed to see exactly what he was supposed to. (RELATED: Border Patrol Council President Says Biden’s Visit To Southern Border Was Nothing More Than A ‘Photo Op’)
“That’s why the president is being criticized by both sides because of what he didn’t see,” Flores reported. “So let me show you. This is one of the migrant camps here in downtown El Paso. And you know, the immigration advocates here in El Paso and Governor Greg Abbott usually don’t agree on much but they do raise the same question. If President Biden came here to El Paso to see the reality on the ground about the border and didn’t come here, what’s considered the epicenter of this crisis, did he leave with a clear understanding?”
WATCH:
The White House later released a statement saying Biden “visited the busiest port of entry” and a “federally-funded migrant” service center to meet with local officials about the migrant crisis.
But Flores pushed back against the White House’s claims.
“My colleague, MJ Lee, asked the White House about the president not interacting or meeting with any migrants and a senior administration official told her that it is because there were no migrants at the respite center at the time that the president visited, and that it was coincidental,” Flores said. “But Poppy, I checked the migrant dashboard that the city of El Paso has. And at the time when the president was here, there were nearly 1,000 migrants who were in federal detention so if the president really wanted to see conditions, I kind of doubt that the President of the United States would have been denied access.”
Flores then pointed to the street right behind her, noting the hundreds of migrants sheltering on the sidewalks.
“This is a city in America, in the United States, and the top executive of this country came here, he did not come to see this,” she said.
