https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/03/10/amid_2014_border_crisis_biden_blasted_reckless_parents_145377.html
Joe Biden called it a crisis and worse.
“When children travel hundreds of miles to reach the United States without their families, in the hands of criminals in the 21st century,” he said of unaccompanied minors surging across the nation’s southern border, “that’s a tragedy we all must take responsibility for.”
And, to clarify but not offend, he took care to explain who should take responsibility for that tragedy: “the country from which they come, and the country to which they are headed.”
He was the vice president then — June of 2014 — as he undertook a tour of Central and South America. There was no pandemic at the time. Unlike today, Biden also spoke at length about the illegal immigration challenge. Now, as president, he remains relatively mum, even as the Border Patrol detains a record number of kids and overall detentions in February soared to nearly 100,000 — the most in that month since 2006.
Is there a crisis at the southern border? That’s the question RealClearPolitics put to Biden last week as he walked out of the State Dining Room at the White House. “No,” he replied. “We will be able to handle it, God willing.”
The new president is not the only one who won’t call it a crisis. That same day and subsequently, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has repeatedly described the situation as a challenge. “We’re going to approach this without labeling,” she said. “We’re going to approach this with policy, with humanity and with a focus on what we can do to keep these kids safe.”
