ABC host Martha Raddatz grilled Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, on Sunday, asking why there are more immigration arrests under President Joe Biden's administration than under former President Donald Trump.
Warren spoke of her support for Biden during an appearance on ABC's “This Week” ahead of the first 2024 presidential debate on Thursday. During the interview, Raddatz brought up the ongoing crisis at the southern border following Biden's June 4, 2024, executive order on immigration, which limited new asylum claims based on the average number of interactions per week between land ports of entry. (Related: Over 500,000 illegal immigrants cross the southern border despite Biden claiming he doesn't have the authority to stop them)
“I know President Biden wanted to pass a bipartisan immigration bill, but under the Biden administration, there have been over 6.9 million apprehensions at the southern border so far. In Donald Trump's entire term, there were just over 2 million. What did the president do wrong?” Raddatz asked.
“No, this is not about what the president did wrong. Remember, on the first day of taking the oath of office, President Biden asked Congress for both funding and comprehensive immigration reform. Republicans blocked and blocked and blocked it. Until last fall,” Warren said.
“But Donald Trump didn't have that either, Senator. He didn't have that either, and yet he had 2 million during his term,” Raddatz interjected.
“Until last fall, the president was trying to address the problems that were presented to him, and he can't address them if Congress and Republicans continue to obstruct him. So the president is using the tools available to him to secure the border, but he doesn't have the resources because Republicans are obstructing access,” Warren continued.
After Raddatz reminded Warren that Biden's approval rating on the border crisis remains “very low,” the Massachusetts senator continued to defend the president, arguing he is “doing the best he can with the resources available to him.”
“What about the border, which you were so concerned about a few weeks ago? First of all, I want to ask you: are you less concerned now?” Raddatz asked.
“No. I'm concerned about what's happening at the border. I'm concerned that because of Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the president doesn't have the resources he needs to provide the maximum amount of help at the border. The president is doing the best he can with the resources that are available. To me, it's a question of both,” Warren said.
“Donald Trump wants to create more chaos at the border, so he's saying he's going to block Congress from acting. He wants as much division in this country as possible. He wants to turn us against immigrants who are here and who make this country stronger. Donald Trump is doing everything he can to further Donald Trump and weaken the United States of America. Biden is going to use the resources available to him to bring our country together and give us border security and a path to citizenship.”
President Biden's June 4 executive order on immigration limits new asylum applications for migrants after a weekly average of 2,500 migrants were encountered per day at land ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. Applications will be allowed to resume once the weekly average daily number of migrants drops to 1,500.
Biden's move comes after he spent months telling the American public and lawmakers there was nothing he could do about the problem, even as illegal border crossings hit record highs — an estimated 7.5 million people are in the country illegally under his administration. encounter 6.2 million people nationwide encounter The Southwestern US border Estimation 1.7 million escapes have been confirmed.
