The White House blamed former President Donald Trump for new, dramatic video of illegal immigrants storming across the border, tearing down a barrier and overwhelming the Texas National Guard Thursday in a statement shared with the Daily Caller.
Illegal immigrants were caught at the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday pulling a barrier open while four National Guardsmen tried to keep the situation under control in video shared by New York Post reporter Jennie Taer. The White House blamed Trump for the chaos, pointing to his opposition toward a bipartisan Senate bill proposed last month that would have allocated funds to Ukraine, Israel and the southern border crisis.
“We are grateful for Border Patrol’s quick work to get the situation under control and apprehend the migrants,” a White House spokesperson told the Daily Caller.
“When the former President told Congressional Republicans to block the bipartisan border security agreement – he said to blame him for it. Well he got his wish, and the result was chaos after Governor Abbott’s Operational Lone Star and razorwire were overrun yesterday. While we cannot comment on individual cases, anyone who does not have a legal basis to remain in the United States is promptly removed,” the White House spokesperson continued.
This is the moment when TX National Guard became overrun by migrants rioting to get across the border here in El Paso today
We were there and saw it all happen. Absolute chaos here. pic.twitter.com/VN6Kf663ie
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024
Senate leadership unveiled a bill in February that would provide about $60 billion worth of aid to Ukraine, $14.1 billion to Israel and $20 billion towards solving the border crisis. Trump joined a number of other Republicans in expressing opposition to the legislation, prompting Biden to blame his predecessor for its failure to pass. Biden said he was told that the former president was reaching out to Republicans trying to persuade them to vote no.
“Now all indications are that this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason. Donald Trump,” Biden said. “Because Donald Trump thinks it is bad for him politically. Therefore [inaudible] the country he is not for it. He would rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it.”
“So for the last 24 hours, he’s done nothing, I’m told, but reach out to Republicans in the House and the Senate and threaten them to try to intimidate them to vote against this proposal. And looks like they’re caving,” Biden continued.
The southern border has been a top issue throughout 2024. U.S. Border Patrol recorded more than 300,000 migrant encounters there in December, the highest total on record. The U.S. Border Patrol encountered more than two million migrants at the southern border during the 2023 fiscal year, according to federal data.