Karine Jean-Pierre Asked About President Biden's Executive Order On The Border And Immigration

3 months ago

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about President Biden's immigration executive order.

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Transcript

00:00So, as you were indicating, when the President's at Camp David,

00:02he's still President, do you intend to brief

00:04during the time that he is away?

00:06We don't typically do traditional press briefings

00:09when the President is away,

00:10so we do not have a scheduled formal briefing to speak of.

00:18But obviously, we will continue the press team

00:22and, with our policy folks as needed,

00:23will continue to hold briefing calls

00:26when appropriate to preview upcoming events,

00:28upcoming announcement.

00:29That is something that we will do.

00:31And, obviously, if you all have any questions,

00:34we will be here to answer any of those questions.

00:37We would request that you would brief

00:38because it's working days even if the President is away.

00:41You guys want to continue seeing me?

00:43We want to see you, yes.

00:44It's several days.

00:46On the issue of immigration,

00:49do you view today's executive order

00:51as sort of a counterweight

00:53to the asylum measure that the President signed?

00:55You know, I wouldn't look at it that way.

00:57I really wouldn't.

00:58And this is what I've been trying to say

01:00when I've been up here.

01:01It's like this system is broken.

01:04More broadly, it is a broken system, right?

01:07We're seeing the challenges at the border.

01:10We're seeing immigration policy

01:11that has not been revamped for some time,

01:15and the President wants to address that.

01:17And we can do.

01:18We can do the EO and deal with the border security

01:23and secure the border in that way

01:25and also make sure that American families

01:28are not broken up, right?

01:29Make sure that people who have been contributing

01:33to our economy, to communities, have an opportunity here.

01:37And so I think we're trying to really deal

01:41with a broad stroke of issues here,

01:43and that's what you're seeing this President do.

01:44And how does he find the balance between wanting to,

01:48as you describe it, keep American families together,

01:51to select people who've been in the country

01:54for a longer period of time,

01:56and then the sort of balance,

01:58the fact that they would get some benefits

02:00that other immigrants would not get

02:03and have reduced penalties and that kind of thing?

02:05How does he make that balance?

02:07Well, so say a little bit more?

02:10Well, without this kind of a program,

02:12people would have to leave the country.

02:14They would have a longer period of time

02:16for getting a green card, those sorts of things.

02:18So how does he find that balance

02:19between something that is giving a benefit

02:22to people who, at one point, broke the rules?

02:25I mean, look, here's the thing.

02:27The eligible population is limited,

02:28so we have to remember that.

02:31And individuals who are alive now are not eligible, right?

02:35So we did try to give this a scope, if you will.

02:40And then, and we can't forget,

02:42those who are eligible have been here for 23 years,

02:46in the U.S., for 23 years.

02:48And they are, that spouse obviously is married

02:51to someone who's an American citizen.

02:54And they probably have children here, some of them, right,

02:57who are American citizens because they were born here.

03:00And so, look, we're gonna continue to take steps

03:04to crack down on smugglers, right?

03:07We're gonna continue to take steps to secure the border,

03:10you know, and so that is something

03:12that we're certainly going to focus on.

03:14But I think to answer the question in a more broader sense,

03:20the immigration system is broken.

03:22It is broken.

03:23It has been broken for decades, for decades.

03:26The President on day one wanted to get ahead of that

03:29or try to fix that, move that forward

03:32by putting forth a broken immigration system.

03:35The announcement today does not take away

03:37from the fact that the immigration system is broken.

03:40And it does not take away from the fact

03:41that Congress needs to act.

03:44And we want to see a balanced approach.

03:46We want to see a bipartisan approach to this.

03:49And they could, they can do it.

03:50They can certainly do that.

03:53Following up on immigration,

03:55when you were asked about timing earlier,

03:56you were mentioning the President

03:57prefers to work with Congress.

03:59Like, why not earlier this year, for example,

04:02or late last year?

04:03I know the bipartisan Senate bill was being worked on,

04:06but that didn't include parole in place for spouses

04:09or anything for DACA recipients.

04:10Yeah, I mean, look.

04:12It seems different.

04:13No, I hear you.

04:14Look, there's been many phases of this, obviously.

04:16There was first the comprehensive immigration proposal,

04:21legislation that the President introduced day one, right?

04:24And then he took, he's taken actions, right,

04:26from that moment until the bipartisan discussion

04:31was happening in Senate.

04:32Like, he's taken multiple actions, right?

04:35And then we had an opportunity late last year,

04:38early this year, to do that in a more balanced approach,

04:41right, to do that in the Senate

04:43with both Republicans and Democrats.

04:45So the President took that opportunity

04:47and directed his team to have those conversations.

04:50And we believed at that time what the proposal

04:52that was being put forward was going to be fair,

04:55tough but fair.

04:56And I would say since then,

05:00since it was rejected by Republicans twice,

05:02the President has looked at every option.

05:04And we say that. We say that many, many times.

05:07We look at all options.

05:09And we try to figure out how we can move forward

05:12with these different options and different ways.

05:15And, look, with the EO to secure the border,

05:19this is something that a majority of Americans

05:21wanted to see, right?

05:23No, I understand that, but the Senate bill

05:25seems separate than what's being announced today.

05:28No, and I'm agreeing with you.

05:29So, like, I'm trying to understand the impetus

05:31and why now for the interactions today.

05:33No, but I'm agreeing with you.

05:34There's been many iterations of different ways

05:37to move forward in dealing with a broken immigration system.

05:40The first one was a comprehensive plan

05:42that the President himself put forward.

05:44And then he took actions, right?

05:46He took other actions between then, that moment,

05:50until we got to the Senate and their bipartisan proposal.

05:56And that was different. You're right.

05:57It is very different than what you're seeing here.

05:59The President has always said.

06:00Remember, he's taken executive actions before.

06:03He took one very recently.

06:05And he's looking at every way to figure out

06:07how we can have policy that's also fair.

06:10We've always said that our immigration policy

06:12needs to be fair and just.

06:14We've always said that.

06:15And we've taken different approaches.

06:16We've taken different action.

06:18This is the announcement for today.

06:19Is it fair to say you wanted to sign the executive order

06:21on the border before doing something like this for those?

06:24I mean, I'm not going to get into that.

06:27I think we know, right, for some time,

06:31that what we're seeing at the border is dynamic.

06:34We saw that, right?

06:35That they were — that it was important

06:37to deal with the challenges of the border.

06:38So the President acted on that.

06:41And we've always said — we've always said

06:43that we need an immigration policy

06:45that's more just, that's more fair.

06:47I mean, let's not forget, this is a President

06:49that was part of the DACA, right?

06:52DREAMers getting a shot here and being able to stay

06:56and get work permits. That happened in 2012.

06:58So there's nothing unusual, I think, of where we are today

07:02than where the President has stood for some time,

07:04more than a decade.

07:06And so I think this is all part of that.

07:08This is all part of building on actions that he has taken.

07:12He would love to see a comprehensive

07:16congressional approach. We still need that.

07:18We still need legislation.

07:19And so he'll continue to work on that.

07:21Okay, Michael.

Karine Jean-Pierre Asked About President Biden's Executive Order On The Border And Immigration

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