Fox News’ Chris Wallace spoke with White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday and opened by asking about the migrant surge at the border — particularly the lack of media access to border facilities, reports Mediaite.
President Joe Biden was questioned on that issue during his Thursday press conference. He said, “You’ll have full access to everything once we get this thing moving.”
Wallace noted to Psaki that “the only way we know how bad conditions are” right now is because of pictures that members of Congress released.
“These kids are living in these conditions now. They’re not living in these conditions some indeterminate time from now when the president says everything will be fixed,” he said, asking why reporters can’t be allowed in to those facilities in a safe way.
Psaki said the Biden administration is “absolutely committed” to that.
“When?” Wallace asked.
“We want to provide access into the border patrol facilities,” Psaki said. “We are mindful of the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic. We want to keep these kids safe, keep the staff safe, but we are absolutely committed to transparency and providing access to media to the border patrol facilities.”
One news crew last week got an inside look at an HHS facility housing hundreds of migrant children, but reporters have been calling for access to CBP facilities specifically.
As Wallace kept questioning Psaki, he said, “At this point, in terms of allowing access to border patrol facilities for reporters, you are being less transparent than the Trump administration.”
Psaki responded by contrasting Biden’s immigration policy with the last president, saying the previous administration “was turning away kids at the border, sending them back on the treacherous journey, or they were ripping kids from the arms of their parents.”
She reiterated that they are “committed to allowing cameras into the border patrol facilities.”
No comments:
Post a Comment