By Kipp Jones October 23, 2021 at 1:02pm
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he has not visited the southern border due to time constraints. But according to a report, as the illegal migration crisis has raged this year he’s spent over two months in his home state of Delaware.
During a town hall on CNN hosted by Anderson Cooper, the conversation turned to the devastation at the border after an unprecedented surge of crossings by illegal migrants.
“Do you have plans to visit the southern border?” Cooper asked Biden.
Biden claimed that he has been a busy man. He explained that his time has been spent on matters of greater importance.
“I’ve been [to the border] before, and I haven’t — I mean, I know it well. I guess I should go down,” he said. “But the — but the whole point of it is: I haven’t had a whole hell of [a lot] of time to get down.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “Do you have plans to visit the southern border?”
Joe Biden: “I’ve been there before.”
REALITY: According to Fox News, there is NO EVIDENCE Biden has EVER been to the border as president, VP, Senator, or as a concerned citizen.
pic.twitter.com/i0RfyBKAzj— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 22, 2021
“I’ve been spending time going around looking at the $900 billion worth of damage done by — by hurricanes and floods and — and weather, and traveling around the world,” Biden added.
“But I plan on — now, my wife, Jill, has been down. She’s been on both sides of the river. She’s seen the circumstances there. She’s looked into those places.” (CNN’s fact-checkers conceded that Jill Biden’s last visit to the border was nearly two years ago.)
Do you think President Biden should have visited the border by now?
Biden also claimed his administration had gotten a handle on the surge of migrant children crossing the border.
“You notice you’re not seeing a lot of pictures of kids lying on top of one another with … you know, looks like tarps on top of them,” he said.
Don’t worry, Mr. President. We remember:
The first news cameras allowed into a migrant processing facility in Donna, Texas captured children cramped together and sleeping under metal blankets. The space is meant to hold no more than 250 migrants but currently has more than 4,100, including 3,200 unaccompanied children. pic.twitter.com/8FJIW2k41T
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 31, 2021
Biden’s claim that he’s simply been too busy to tour the border doesn’t stand up to even the most basic level of scrutiny.
According to the New York Post, he has spent 70 days of his tenure as president at one of his Delaware homes. There have also been trips to Camp David, of course.
As for Biden’s claim that he’s been to the border before, it’s technically true. He visited El Paso on the campaign trail, as White House press secretary Jen Psaki smugly reminded Americans this week.
Which campaign? Oh, well, it was back in 2008. And his “visit” was really more of a quick drive-by, according to The Washington Post.
But who’s keeping track? Certainly not Biden. He’s too busy.
Johnathan “Kipp” Jones has worked as a reporter, an editor and a producer in radio, television and digital media. He is a proud husband and father.
Johnathan “Kipp” Jones has worked as an editor and producer in radio and television. He is a proud husband and father.