Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday blamed President Biden for creating a migrant crisis on the southern border by dismantling the successful Trump-era immigration policies.
“This administration threw away all the good work we had done,” Mr. Pompeo told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.
Mr. Pompeo said he helped negotiate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that kept asylum seekers outside the U.S. while their claims were reviewed.
Mr. Biden reversed the policy and restored a catch-and-release program that lets loose illegal immigrants in the U.S. interior to await an immigration court appearance that takes years.
The flood of illegal immigrants that followed included a surge in unaccompanied children, the number of which tripled in the last two weeks to more than 3,250 and forced the Biden administration to house them in adult detention centers that resemble jails.
Mr. Pompeo said former President Trump’s policies deterred migrants.
“It created the right incentives. When I hear [the Biden administration] say, ‘We are telling people not to come,’ the truth is they are telling people to come. They are creating the incentive for these kids to travel — they are being trafficked, they are being mishandled and treated terribly by these coyotes,” Mr. Pompeo said.
The Biden administration said it inherited a gutted immigration system from Mr. Trump, and it is instituting humane policies to accommodate the migrants.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday balked at reporters describing the situation at the southern border as a crisis.
“Look, I don’t think we need to sit here and put new labels on what we have already conveyed is challenging, what we have conveyed is a top priority for the president,” she said.
Mr. Pompeo disagreed: “This is a real crisis that is taking place on our southern border. It’s a crisis of sovereignty, American sovereignty, of making sure we know who is coming in and out of our country, of keeping us safe.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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