It seemed for a moment that\nafter nearly 90 days in office that President Joe Biden and his administration\nwere ready to acknowledge the situation on the southern border was a crisis. In\nresponse to a question about delays in raising the cap on refugees admitted\ninto the U.S. annually, President Biden laid blame on the \u201ccrisis that ended up\non the border with young people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people. We couldn\u2019t do two things at once. But now we are going to increase the number,\u201d said Biden<\/a> on April 17 as he traveled to play golf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked if Biden\u2019s use of crisis\nwas now the official White House position, White House Press Secretary Jen\nPsaki first avoided answering by noting the administration had moved nearly\n1,000 unaccompanied minors from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities\nand into the care of Health and Human Services since Biden made his remarks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe President does not feel that children coming to our border, seeking refuge from violence, economic hardships, and other dire circumstances is a crisis,\u201d Psaki added during her April 19 press briefing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The absurdity of Psaki\u2019s walking\nback of Biden\u2019s truthful comments did not go unnoticed by Senate Minority\nLeader Mitch McConnell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe most strength that this administration has shown on the border has been their commitment to their talking points \u2014 their refusal to call the crisis a crisis,\u201d said the Kentucky Republican<\/a>, who asserted the administration writ large was engaged in \u201cwoke proofreading.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n McConnell\u2019s criticism is not mere political griping. The fact that administration officials expend more energy avoiding using a single (and apt) word than to solving the humanitarian and national security catastrophe at the border is an important matter. In addition, the downplaying of the border crisis is a direct contrast to other issues. Biden-Harris officials rightly characterize the pandemic and the weak economy as crises. But they also paste the crisis label on problems, such as climate crisis<\/a>, policing<\/a>, and racial inequality<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The administration\u2019s aversion to the use of the word crisis to describe the crisis the president\u2019s policies created, stretches back to the onset of his presidency. Asked directly in a February 24 briefing if the surge of migrants to the southern border were a crisis, Psaki refused outright to \u201clabel\u201d it as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to put new labels on it from here or from the podium, but it is a priority of the administration, it\u2019s a priority of our Secretary of Homeland Security, and certainly of the President, who\u2019s kept abreast of the developments,\u201d she replied<\/a> in a preview of what was to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 1, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was asked by reporters whether he believed there was a crisis at the border. \u201cI think that the \u2014 the answer is no.\u00a0 I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing,\u201d\u00a0he responded<\/a> at a time when more than 200 unaccompanied minors were being apprehended each day. Less than a week later, Mayorkas released a 2,000-plus word statement<\/a> on the \u201csituation\u201d at the border, but not once was the word crisis used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the March 10 daily\nbriefing, newly-appointed border czar and former ambassador to Mexico Roberta\nJacobson was asked why there was a reticence to call it a crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not trying to be cute here, but I think the fact of the matter is: We have to do what we do regardless of what anybody calls the situation,\u201d she said<\/a>, adding that \u201cwhatever you call it wouldn\u2019t change what we\u2019re doing\u201d as it relates to handling the migrant surge. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even two months of increasing daily apprehension numbers could not move Psaki from her appointed talking points. “Children presenting at our border, who are fleeing violence, who are fleeing prosecution, who are fleeing terrible situations, is not a crisis,” Psaki said. “We feel that it is our responsibility to humanely approach this circumstance and make sure they are treated and put in conditions that are safe,\u201d she claimed on March 22<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But all three administration\nspokespeople know what a crisis looks like from experience. Jacobson was Assistant\nSecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Obama-Biden\nadministration, while Psaki served at both the State Department and Obama White\nHouse in their respective press offices. Mayorkas had an even closer eye on the\n2014 migrant crisis as deputy DHS secretary. \nThe Biden border crisis already has eclipsed the 2014 and 2019 crises \u2013\na fact which everyone avoiding the term crisis is well aware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The wordplay shows the administration\u2019s focus on appearance and optics while ignoring the root problem of illegal immigration. The longer the border crisis is ignored \u2013 and that is what the administration is doing \u2013 the odds increase that it will worsen. We have seen over the last 90-plus days just how true that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To join FAIR\u2019s campaign to send a message to President Biden, Vice President Harris and Congress, click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To make a critical donation to FAIR\u2019s efforts to stop the Biden administration\u2019s disastrous dismantling efforts, click here<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It seemed for a moment that after nearly 90 days in office that President Joe Biden and his administration were ready to acknowledge the situation on the southern border was a crisis. In response to a question about delays in raising the cap on refugees admitted into the U.S. annually, President Biden laid blame on<\/p>\n