White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggled to explain why the Biden administration needs to deploy troops to the border that she has described as "secure."
"Because we need more work. We need more—work needs to be done," Jean-Pierre said Tuesday when asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy why, if the border is secure, the administration is sending the military. "Republicans in Congress refused to act. ...We are putting ... forth processes to deal with the changes that are going to be ahead of us."
Jean-Pierre's attempt to downplay the administration's Tuesday decision to deploy 1,500 active-duty troops to the border ahead of an expected surge in migration this month came a day after she falsely claimed that "illegal immigration" has "come down by more than 90 percent." Illegal immigration actually hit a record-high in 2022 of 2.76 million encounters.
Jean-Pierre has repeatedly claimed the situation at the southern border is not out of control and said she agreed with Vice President Kamala Harris's claim that the border is "secure."
In spite of repeated assurances by Jean-Pierre, Harris, and Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the border is secure the administration plans to send 1,500 active duty troops to the border ahead of the expiration of Title 42, a pandemic-era rule that allows border agents to turn away migrants. The troops will assist agents with administrative duties, Politico reported, joining 2,500 National Guard troops already deployed at the border.