A group of 21 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to President Biden urging him to stop blocking media access at the southern border — and ripping him for “actively misleading the American people.”
“Seeing as your Administration refuses to publicly acknowledge the crisis in contradiction to demonstrable facts, denying reporters access can only be seen as a craven effort to keep the public from fully realizing the extent to which the administration’s policies have created chaos, lawlessness and human suffering along our southern border,” reads the letter dated Thursday and obtained by Fox News.
Biden and his cohorts have refused to characterize the swell of migrants — including thousands of unaccompanied children — as a crisis, despite reports of cramped facilities and kids sleeping on floors.
House Republicans have urged Joe Biden to allow media access to the US-Mexico border. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesJournalists at the US-Mexico border, including from The Post, have been barred from entering shelters housing the migrants and told not to photograph operations — despite Biden touting a commitment to “transparency.”
A large group of approximately 300 migrants, who crossed Rio Grande illegally, wait to be transported to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Hidalgo County, Texas, on March 25, 2021. Go Nakamura for New York Post“The southern border is clearly in crisis, and your Administration appears not only to disseminate myths to the American people about the dire situation, but is also actively engaging in behavior that is preventing transparency and accountability to the American people you were elected to serve,” the letter says.
A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility that houses minors in the border town of Donna, Texas, on March 20, 2021. David Butow/ReduxThe lawmakers — led by US Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) — note that 5,000 unaccompanied children are being held in Customs and Border Protection facilities, spending far longer in federal custody than the 72-hour limit.
Migrants recently released by U.S. Border Patrol walk to a Catholic shelter after being tested for COVID at a facility in McAllen, Texas, on March 20, 2021. David Butow/Redux“There are more than 16,000 UACs in government custody and your administration is not only being dishonest about the situation but actively misleading the American people and blocking access to transparency,” the letter says.
Migrants recently released by U.S. Border Patrol walk off a bus before being tested for COVID at a facility in McAllen. David Butow/ReduxIt ends with a request “that your Administration immediately stop blocking media access to current border operations, and to be straightforward with the American people about what is truly happening at our southern border.”
At his first press conference Thursday, Biden blamed the border crisis on the Trump administration’s immigration policies, claiming a massive influx of migrants “happens every year.”
Migrants wait to be taken to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Hidalgo County, Texas, on March 25, 2021. Go Nakamura for New York PostAsked when reporters will be allowed to visit Border Patrol facilities housing children, the president said, “I don’t know, to be clear.”
