Joe Biden says he hasn't had 'time' to visit southern border, admits he 'should go down'

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said that he hadn’t had time to visit the southern border to address the surge in illegal immigrants and admitted that he “should go down”. While speaking to CNN during a televised town hall event, Biden said that he had been busy overseeing damages done by hurricanes that hit the US this year and travelling around the world for meetings with foreign leaders. However, he pointed out that First Lady Jill Biden had visited both sides of the US-Mexico border. 

"I've been there [southern border] before, I know it well, I guess I should go down but the whole point of it is I haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down [there]," Biden said on Thursday. 

“I’ve been spending time going around looking at $900 billion worth of damage done by hurricanes and floods and weather and traveling around the world. But I plan on — now my wife Jill has been down. She’s been on both sides of the river, she’s seen the circumstances there, she’s looked into those places,” he added. 

It is pertinent to mention that it is not clear whether or not Biden has ever travelled to the border as a senator, vice president or concerned citizen. Last month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked at a press briefing for information on whether Biden had ever visited the border. However, she said, “I will have to look back in my history books and check the times he’s been to the southern border.”

US border crisis 

Meanwhile, the migrant crisis at the southern border continues to plague the Biden administration. Earlier this week, it was revealed that the US officials apprehended more than 1.7 million migrants along the Mexican border, with Border Patrol arrests reaching new highs since 1986. The Washington Post reported that illegal crossings began to rise last year but peaked after Biden took over as US President. 

Biden called the uptick in CBP arrests this spring as "consistent with previous seasonal patterns." However, the busiest months were July and August, when over 200,000 migrants were apprehended. As per the report, Biden’s handling of immigration remains his worst-polling concern, and border enforcement has become a big political liability for him. 

(Image: AP)