'Why Now?': Karine Jean-Pierre Grilled By Reporters On Biden Executive Order On Citizenship
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about President Biden's executive order on citizenship.
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NewsTranscript
00:00That's to confirm it, yes.
00:01And when it comes to the new executive actions
00:03today on immigration, can you just talk us through why now?
00:06Why not earlier?
00:07So, look, and I said this a little bit,
00:10and I'll say it again, which is —
00:12and we say this — our immigration system is broken.
00:15It has been for some decades.
00:16The President wants to have a comprehensive legislative fix.
00:20That's the process that we actually want to take.
00:23And that's why he did on day one.
00:25And so, look, we want to see a balanced approach.
00:27We want to see a bipartisan movement on this,
00:30but Congress has failed to act.
00:32They just have.
00:33They voted twice on a proposal legislation
00:37that they, Republicans and Democrats,
00:39came together on to move forward
00:43on dealing with what's happening —
00:45the challenges at the border,
00:46what's happening with immigration.
00:48Republicans rejected it. They rejected it twice.
00:51And so, announcing these actions to keep families together —
00:56you know, we're talking about American citizens
00:58and their families to keep them together.
01:00We're talking about young people who contribute.
01:02They are contributing to the economy.
01:04They are contributing to the — to their communities.
01:07We want to make sure we keep that talent here.
01:10And so, that is why we're taking this action.
01:13We can do both. We can secure the border,
01:16as we did with announcing the executive order.
01:19And we could also protect American families.
01:21And that's what the President is going to be —
01:22going to be announcing today.
01:24Talk us through how the administration
01:25decided the contours of this.
01:27For instance, it is 10 years,
01:29but if someone's been married for —
01:32it's — you have to be in the country for at least 10 years.
01:34But if you've been in the country for just slightly
01:36less than that, they would not eventually be eligible, right?
01:40So, yeah, that is correct.
01:42Anybody who is — and the other added piece of this
01:44is anybody who is wanting — presenting themselves today
01:48would not be — would not be eligible as well.
01:50And it is a decade.
01:52You have to be here for at least a decade
01:54to be able to be —
01:56obviously, to take part of this announcement
01:58that the President is making.
02:00And here's the thing, the average —
02:03the average person who would be eligible for this,
02:07we are predicting have been here for about 23 years.
02:11Twenty-three years.
02:12Just — but what do you say to those families,
02:15you know, who have a member who's been here
02:16for, like, nine years and 11 months?
02:20No, I hear you.
02:21So they'll never have a chance?
02:23I mean, look, the way to actually deal with this
02:25is to have a comprehensive immigration legislation,
02:29is for Congress to do their jobs and to move forward.
02:33And what we have seen is Republicans getting in the way
02:35because of what the last President said.
02:38And that is the way that we want to see this moving.
02:41We have said — I have said this many times —
02:42we want to move — we want it to move in a balanced approach.
02:46A balanced approach.
02:47And that's how we had seen this process.
02:50That's going to be part of this announcement, obviously.
02:53And — but, you know, Congress, they have to fix this.
02:57In order to actually fix this broken immigration system,
03:00Congress has to act.
03:02And, you know, we are going to do everything that we can
03:06to move forward in a way where we are,
03:08obviously, protecting American families
03:11and also dealing with the challenges at the border,
03:13trying to fix a broken immigration
03:16or deal with a broken immigration system
03:18that's been broken for decades.
03:20And, you know, this is one process that —
03:22one announcement that we're moving forward with.
03:25And, you know, there's — you know,
03:27and the President is always going to look for other ways
03:30to deal with this broken immigration system.
03:33But, honestly, Congress has to act.
03:35They have to act.
03:36Go ahead, Lijia.
03:38Do you have any details about the timeframe
03:40and when people can actually start applying for this program?
03:43So, don't have anything to share on the actual timeline on this.
03:48We want to make sure, again, that our border is secure.
03:51We want to make sure that we are — we —
03:54you know, we want to make sure that the immigration system
03:57is more fair, more just.
03:59Don't have anything on the timeline.
04:00I'm sure DHS may have more on that specific question
04:04that you have.
04:04And then, just following up on Selena,
04:06given the amount of time it's going to take
04:08to process the applications,
04:10given the fact that it could all be undone
04:12if there's a new administration,
04:15am I hearing the reason why the President didn't do this sooner
04:19is because he thought Congress would do it?
04:22Well, here — what I'm saying is that, as you know,
04:26we've worked really hard to protect DACA.
04:28We put out a comprehensive immigration system.
04:30DACA was part of that.
04:33Fixing what's happening and securing the border,
04:35obviously, was part of that.
04:37Fixing an immigration policy that's been broken for decades,
04:41obviously, was part of that. That's why it was comprehensive.
04:43The President has been focused on this since day one
04:47and worked with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate
04:50to try to figure out how do we move forward
04:52with a policy that's fair and just.
04:55And we believe it is still the way to go
04:58is to do this through Congress,
05:00to do this in a legislative way.
05:03And so, the President is always going to look —
05:05and you hear us say this often —
05:06the President is going to look for different ways
05:09to move forward on dealing with this broken system
05:13that we have. We're always going to find ways.
05:15Two weeks ago, we made an announcement
05:17and he signed an EO on securing the border.
05:20We did that. But we've taken more actions than that
05:23before leading up to that EO.
05:26And today, we're making this announcement
05:29on protecting American families.
05:31So, look, we would rather see Congress act.
05:34That's what we want to see, and do it in a comprehensive way.
05:38They should, you know, take a look at the legislation
05:40that we put forward on day one.
05:43Or go back to their bipartisan proposal that they put forward.
05:48So, there are ways to do this, and the President said
05:51he would always look at different options.
05:53And this is one of them.
05:54How do you respond to Republicans
05:55who say this particular move is just an election-year stunt?
06:00Look, I'm not here to talk about election year.
06:02That's not what I'm here to talk about.
06:03I'm here to talk about the President's policy
06:05and why he's doing this,
06:06because we have a broken immigration system.
06:09The President did this on his first day
06:12when he put forth that comprehensive immigration system.
06:14For about two months or so, coming out of last year,
06:18going into early this year, the President worked his team.
06:21He directed his team to work with Congress
06:24on getting done a bipartisan,
06:28you know, proposal to deal with immigration.
06:30And we were able to do that.
06:32We were able to do that with Republicans
06:34and Democrats in the Senate.
06:36And Republicans rejected it.
06:37They rejected it because of what they were told
06:40by the former President.
06:41That's politics.
06:43That's putting partisan first, right?
06:45That's partisanship. That's politics.
06:47That is doing something on behalf of someone
06:49who is currently a candidate for 2024.
06:52We have been saying since day one,
06:54we want to figure out how to fix this broken system.
06:57Okay.