President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, had the same kind of trouble White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has behind that podium. He just could not come up with a clear answer during Monday’s White House press briefing.
His questions had to do with the vetting process for people who illegally cross the southern border. This seems like something a national security advisor should be able to answer in his sleep.
But here’s how the exchange went this week, a reporter asked,
“How many people crossing the border that the U.S. government has no idea, like estimates of how many people are crossing, aren’t giving their names, aren’t giving IDs, aren’t able to verify who they are?”
Sullivan responded, ”So we do have estimates of how many encounters there are on the border on a daily basis, we have processes and procedures in place to identify those individuals, to process them in an orderly fashion and then to do what is appropriate based on that processing.”
He must have realized that he really didn’t answer, so he continued, “We have believed that that system is a system that does an effective job of being able to determine who is coming across the border and what the right way to deal with their case is.”
Some are concerned about all of this because chaos continues to reign at the border and processing times have grown surprisingly shorter. The problem is also compounded when top Department of Homeland Security officials visit processing centers. Apparently, agents are ordered to empty the center to make the problem seem not as bad as it really is.
But take heart because Sullivan believes that “the system is a system that does an effective job of being able to determine who is coming across the border and what the right way to deal with their case is.”
"How many people are crossing [the border] who you have no idea who they are?"
SULLIVAN: "We have believed that that system is a system that does an effective job of being able to determine who is coming across the border and what the right way to deal with their case is." pic.twitter.com/p4H3z3K4g5
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 12, 2022
.@SecMayorkas is set to visit the El Paso sector tomorrow. Agents say whenever a “higher up” comes to visit, they “clean house” so it looks like everything is under control.
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) December 12, 2022
