'Why Now?': Karine Jean-Pierre Grilled By Reporters On Biden Executive Order On Citizenship

3 months ago

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about President Biden's executive order on citizenship.

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Transcript

00:00That's to confirm it, yes.

00:01And when it comes to the new executive actions

00:03today on immigration, can you just talk us through why now?

00:06Why not earlier?

00:07So, look, and I said this a little bit,

00:10and I'll say it again, which is —

00:12and we say this — our immigration system is broken.

00:15It has been for some decades.

00:16The President wants to have a comprehensive legislative fix.

00:20That's the process that we actually want to take.

00:23And that's why he did on day one.

00:25And so, look, we want to see a balanced approach.

00:27We want to see a bipartisan movement on this,

00:30but Congress has failed to act.

00:32They just have.

00:33They voted twice on a proposal legislation

00:37that they, Republicans and Democrats,

00:39came together on to move forward

00:43on dealing with what's happening —

00:45the challenges at the border,

00:46what's happening with immigration.

00:48Republicans rejected it. They rejected it twice.

00:51And so, announcing these actions to keep families together —

00:56you know, we're talking about American citizens

00:58and their families to keep them together.

01:00We're talking about young people who contribute.

01:02They are contributing to the economy.

01:04They are contributing to the — to their communities.

01:07We want to make sure we keep that talent here.

01:10And so, that is why we're taking this action.

01:13We can do both. We can secure the border,

01:16as we did with announcing the executive order.

01:19And we could also protect American families.

01:21And that's what the President is going to be —

01:22going to be announcing today.

01:24Talk us through how the administration

01:25decided the contours of this.

01:27For instance, it is 10 years,

01:29but if someone's been married for —

01:32it's — you have to be in the country for at least 10 years.

01:34But if you've been in the country for just slightly

01:36less than that, they would not eventually be eligible, right?

01:40So, yeah, that is correct.

01:42Anybody who is — and the other added piece of this

01:44is anybody who is wanting — presenting themselves today

01:48would not be — would not be eligible as well.

01:50And it is a decade.

01:52You have to be here for at least a decade

01:54to be able to be —

01:56obviously, to take part of this announcement

01:58that the President is making.

02:00And here's the thing, the average —

02:03the average person who would be eligible for this,

02:07we are predicting have been here for about 23 years.

02:11Twenty-three years.

02:12Just — but what do you say to those families,

02:15you know, who have a member who's been here

02:16for, like, nine years and 11 months?

02:20No, I hear you.

02:21So they'll never have a chance?

02:23I mean, look, the way to actually deal with this

02:25is to have a comprehensive immigration legislation,

02:29is for Congress to do their jobs and to move forward.

02:33And what we have seen is Republicans getting in the way

02:35because of what the last President said.

02:38And that is the way that we want to see this moving.

02:41We have said — I have said this many times —

02:42we want to move — we want it to move in a balanced approach.

02:46A balanced approach.

02:47And that's how we had seen this process.

02:50That's going to be part of this announcement, obviously.

02:53And — but, you know, Congress, they have to fix this.

02:57In order to actually fix this broken immigration system,

03:00Congress has to act.

03:02And, you know, we are going to do everything that we can

03:06to move forward in a way where we are,

03:08obviously, protecting American families

03:11and also dealing with the challenges at the border,

03:13trying to fix a broken immigration

03:16or deal with a broken immigration system

03:18that's been broken for decades.

03:20And, you know, this is one process that —

03:22one announcement that we're moving forward with.

03:25And, you know, there's — you know,

03:27and the President is always going to look for other ways

03:30to deal with this broken immigration system.

03:33But, honestly, Congress has to act.

03:35They have to act.

03:36Go ahead, Lijia.

03:38Do you have any details about the timeframe

03:40and when people can actually start applying for this program?

03:43So, don't have anything to share on the actual timeline on this.

03:48We want to make sure, again, that our border is secure.

03:51We want to make sure that we are — we —

03:54you know, we want to make sure that the immigration system

03:57is more fair, more just.

03:59Don't have anything on the timeline.

04:00I'm sure DHS may have more on that specific question

04:04that you have.

04:04And then, just following up on Selena,

04:06given the amount of time it's going to take

04:08to process the applications,

04:10given the fact that it could all be undone

04:12if there's a new administration,

04:15am I hearing the reason why the President didn't do this sooner

04:19is because he thought Congress would do it?

04:22Well, here — what I'm saying is that, as you know,

04:26we've worked really hard to protect DACA.

04:28We put out a comprehensive immigration system.

04:30DACA was part of that.

04:33Fixing what's happening and securing the border,

04:35obviously, was part of that.

04:37Fixing an immigration policy that's been broken for decades,

04:41obviously, was part of that. That's why it was comprehensive.

04:43The President has been focused on this since day one

04:47and worked with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate

04:50to try to figure out how do we move forward

04:52with a policy that's fair and just.

04:55And we believe it is still the way to go

04:58is to do this through Congress,

05:00to do this in a legislative way.

05:03And so, the President is always going to look —

05:05and you hear us say this often —

05:06the President is going to look for different ways

05:09to move forward on dealing with this broken system

05:13that we have. We're always going to find ways.

05:15Two weeks ago, we made an announcement

05:17and he signed an EO on securing the border.

05:20We did that. But we've taken more actions than that

05:23before leading up to that EO.

05:26And today, we're making this announcement

05:29on protecting American families.

05:31So, look, we would rather see Congress act.

05:34That's what we want to see, and do it in a comprehensive way.

05:38They should, you know, take a look at the legislation

05:40that we put forward on day one.

05:43Or go back to their bipartisan proposal that they put forward.

05:48So, there are ways to do this, and the President said

05:51he would always look at different options.

05:53And this is one of them.

05:54How do you respond to Republicans

05:55who say this particular move is just an election-year stunt?

06:00Look, I'm not here to talk about election year.

06:02That's not what I'm here to talk about.

06:03I'm here to talk about the President's policy

06:05and why he's doing this,

06:06because we have a broken immigration system.

06:09The President did this on his first day

06:12when he put forth that comprehensive immigration system.

06:14For about two months or so, coming out of last year,

06:18going into early this year, the President worked his team.

06:21He directed his team to work with Congress

06:24on getting done a bipartisan,

06:28you know, proposal to deal with immigration.

06:30And we were able to do that.

06:32We were able to do that with Republicans

06:34and Democrats in the Senate.

06:36And Republicans rejected it.

06:37They rejected it because of what they were told

06:40by the former President.

06:41That's politics.

06:43That's putting partisan first, right?

06:45That's partisanship. That's politics.

06:47That is doing something on behalf of someone

06:49who is currently a candidate for 2024.

06:52We have been saying since day one,

06:54we want to figure out how to fix this broken system.

06:57Okay.

'Why Now?': Karine Jean-Pierre Grilled By Reporters On Biden Executive Order On Citizenship

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