White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to criticisms from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) this week that President Joe Biden is not securing the southern border by claiming that Biden has “done more” than anyone else on the issue.
“Immigration is arguably this administration’s weakest issue,” AOC told The New York Times in an interview. “This is one area where our policy is dictated by politics, arguably more so than almost any other.”
AOC claimed that Biden was not doing what she recommended he do because there was “a fear around just being seen as approving or providing permission structures, or really just the Republican narratives that have surrounded immigration.”
“We also need to examine the root causes of this migration and address that this problem doesn’t start at our border, but it starts with our foreign policy,” she said.
Jean-Pierre responded to AOC’s remarks, saying: “The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else. He really has.”
“Look, the president has done what he can from here, from the federal government, from the White House to put forth and manage our border in a safe and humane way, to respect the dignity of every human, as he says all the time, and making sure that our communities are safe,” she continued.