Biden Lies About History of Border Visits

CLAIM – President Joe Biden claimed on Friday that he had been to the border before his El Paso trip.

VERDICT. MOSTLY FALSE. During the 2008 campaign he was driven a few miles past the border.

President Biden told a gathering of the nation’s mayors on Friday about his recent visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. Biden spend a few hours there, making sure he was photographed near the fence — which he immediately stopped building upon taking office, but evidently knows is a potent symbol of security.

Our problems at the border didn’t arise overnight. And they won’t be solved overnight.

However, we can work together to fix this broken system.

We can secure the border, as well as make the immigration process fair, orderly, safe, and humane. pic.twitter.com/dtP6IAJZMR

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 9, 2023

Biden blamed Republicans for the migrant crisis at the border, saying that the problem exists because of the GOP’s refusal to pass so-called “comprehensive” The immigration reform that would give amnesty for millions of illegal aliens in the country, is called “immigration reform.” He did not explain why he had personally reversed many of former President Trump’s successful border policies, or why he is failing to enforce existing laws on immigration.

He claimed that he had visited the border before he was elected president. The transcript:

This was my first visit to the border as President. I’ve been there before, but for the first time as President. And I’m taking action where I have the legal capacity to do so. I’ll continue to call on Congress to act to pass comprehensive immigration reform to fix the system. (Applause.)

My first bill was a comprehensive immigration reform bill. It was rejected by some in Congress. It was a better topic to campaign on than an issue they had to solve.

We have two options: they can continue to use immigration to gain political points or we can solve the problem. The issue of immigration reform was once a bipartisan one. We can do it again, my opinion.

Biden’s claim to have visited the border previously is misleading, as Breitbart News has explained On previous occasions, such a when Karine Jean-Pierre, Press Secretary, made the same claim.

Jen Psaki, the then-Press Secretary, was appointed September 2021. responded Doocy asked her a similar question. She replied that she did not know if Biden had ever crossed the border.

A month later, she said: “There’s been reporting that he did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008.” She looked like she was citing a Washington Post article that fact-checked Biden’s claim to have visited the border, and found that “Biden briefly drove past the border while on a campaign swing in 2008” in El Paso, Texas.

The Post added:

On Oct. 17, he organized a rally at Mesilla, N.M. David E. Wade, the press officer for the trip, stated to The Fact Checker, that the plane landed at El Paso’s airport, and then the motorcade made the nearly one-hour ride to Las Cruces. Biden traveled along a route which for a few moments hugs the border of Mexico and the United States. “For most of us, it was unfamiliar territory,” Wade said that he remembered some reporters laughing about crossing the border at the event.

The claim is therefore false — unless a drive-by visit, in which Biden did not intend to examine the border, can be counted in his favor.

Biden has never been to the border before his visit. This is despite his 50-year career in politics.

Biden seems to be saying that his constitutional responsibility to enforce the border is dependent on Congress agreeing that laws are made that grant citizenship to migrants that he permits to enter the country. It’s a form of hostage taking that is familiar. Democrats threaten to create future citizens (and possible Democratic voters) unless Republicans agree with them to make citizens of the already present, without any guarantees that they will be last.

As for using the issue to score political points, Biden’s former boss, President Barack Obama, was notorious for deferring action on immigration to keep the issue alive to motivate the Democratic base during elections.

When Republicans — such as President Trump — have tried to solve the problem, and have proposed immigration compromises, Democrats have refused because they appear to want to keep the flow of migrants coming.

Joel B. Pollak, Senior Editor-at Large at Breitbart news and host of Breitbart News Sunday Sirius XM Patriot Sunday evenings, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. ET (4 p.m.- 7 p.m. PST). He is the author and editor of the new biographie. Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author and editor of the most recent e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He was awarded the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him @ @joelpollak.