ABC host Martha Raddatz grilled Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Sunday, asking about the high number of migrant apprehensions under President Joe Biden’s administration compared to that of former President Donald Trump.
Warren appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss her support of Biden ahead of the first 2024 presidential debate Thursday. During the interview, Raddatz pivoted to the ongoing crisis at the southern border following Biden’s June 4, 2024 immigration executive order, which limits new asylum requests based on a weekly daily average of encounters between land ports of entry. (RELATED: Over Half A Million Illegal Migrants Crossed Southern Border While Biden Claimed He Had No Power To Stop Them)
“I know [President Biden] wanted that immigration bill to pass, that bipartisan, but there have been more than 6.9 million apprehensions at the southern border thus far in Biden’s term. There were just over two million in Donald Trump’s entire term. What did the president do wrong?” Raddatz asked.
“No, this isn’t about what the president did wrong. Remember, on the very first day that he was sworn into office, President Biden asked Congress both for the resources and for comprehensive immigration reform. The Republicans blocked it, blocked it, blocked it, blocked it. Until last fall— ” Warren said.
“Donald Trump didn’t have that either, Senator. He didn’t have that either and there were two million during his entire term,” Raddatz jumped in.
“Until last fall. The president tries to deal with a problem that is presented to him. He can’t deal with it if Congress and the Republicans continue to block him. And so the president is using the tools available to him, both to create border security, but he doesn’t have the resources because the Republicans are blocking access,” Warren continued.
As Raddatz pointed out to Warren how Biden’s polling on the border crisis is still “very weak,” the Massachusetts senator continued to defend the president, claiming he is “doing what he can with the resources available to him.”
“What about the border that you were so concerned about a couple of weeks ago? First question I ask you: are you less concerned now?” Raddatz questioned.
“No. I am concerned about what’s happening at the border. And I am concerned that the president, because of Donald Trump and the Republicans, does not have the resources that he needs in order to be able to provide as much help at the border. He’s doing what he can with the resources he has available. You know, for me, this is about the contrast between the two,” Warren said.
“Donald Trump has said, ‘Block congressional action,’ because he wants more chaos at the border. He wants as much division as possible in this country. He wants to turn us against immigrants who are here, who help support this country, who make it stronger. Donald Trump is doing everything he can to advance Donald Trump and to undercut the United States of America. Joe Biden is taking the resources available and trying to keep our nation knitted together and trying to give us border security and a pathway to citizenship.”
Biden’s June 4 immigration executive order limits new asylum requests for migrants after the U.S.-Mexico border hits a daily average of 2,500 migrant encounters between land ports of entry over a week. The requests are allowed to resume if the daily average drops to 1,500 migrants over a week.
The move by Biden comes after months of insisting to Americans and lawmakers there was nothing he could do on the issue, even with illegal border crossings hitting record highs. Under the Biden administration there have been an estimated 7.5 million encounters nationwide, 6.2 million encounters at the U.S. southwest border and an estimated 1.7 million known gotaways.
