- Trump scoffed at Biden’s new immigration agenda, saying there is now an increase in border migration.
- In response to Trump’s criticism, Psaki responded, saying that the Biden government does not “take advice” from him.
- Since his first day in office, Biden has signed a series of executive orders designed to reverse immigration policies of the Trump era.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday confirmed the Biden government’s immigration policies in response to criticism from former President Donald Trump.
The former president in a statement released on Friday ridiculed Biden’s new immigration agenda, which includes measures aimed at reversing the Trump-era political controversies.
Trump said the reversal of his own policies has led to an increase in migration on the southern border.
“The spiraling tsunami on the border is oppressing local communities, depleting budgets, crowding hospitals and taking jobs from legal American workers,” Trump said in a statement. “When I left office, we had reached the safest border in our country’s history. Under Biden, it will soon be worse, more dangerous and more out of control than ever. He violated his oath to defend our Constitution and enforce our laws. “
Under Biden, a facility for migrants in Texas reopened to house unaccompanied minors aged 13 to 17.
A reporter asked Psaki during his press conference on Friday about Trump’s criticisms.
“We have not followed our advice or advice from former President Trump on immigration policy, which has not only been inhumane, but ineffective for the past four years,” said Psaki, according to a White House transcript.
Stephen Miller, an official appointed by Trump and responsible for the policy that led to the separation of children from their families on the border, also criticized the Biden government.
“What we’re seeing here is the cruelty and inhumanity of Joe Biden’s immigration policies,” said Miller during an interview for a Fox News program last month.
“He took office and announced that there is an open door and that young people who enter this country illegally will be resettled instead of being returned. He is forcing thousands of children in the arms of smugglers, in the arms of drug dealers, in the arms of coyotes, “he said, referring to the nickname of border smugglers.
“We will chart our own path forward, and that includes treating children with humanity and respect, and ensuring that they are safe when they cross our borders,” added Psaki.
Other Biden-appointed administrators also defended the White House’s immigration policies.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, for example, said the outbreak is not equivalent to a border crisis and that the government is planning potential ways to contain it. This could take the form of opening more facilities near the southern border, for example.
On his first day in office, Biden signed executive orders to end travel bans from mostly Muslim countries, halt construction of the US-Mexico border wall and extend the Obama-era program to protect young immigrants from deportation.
Insider’s Ashley Collman contributed to this report.