Jean-Pierre: Biden Has 'Been to the Border.' Doocy: 'When Did He Go to the Border?' (November 30, 2022)

Kevin McCarthy, then the House Republican leader, had invited President Joe Biden to visit the southern border. Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked the White House whether Biden had responded. “Has the President RSVPed?” he asked, to laughter [1][2].

“Well, we know — we know the President has never been down to the border. The possible next Speaker says that he wants him to go with him. So, is he going to?” Doocy asked [1].

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted otherwise. “So, look, he’s been there. He’s been to the border. And since he took office —” she began. Doocy cut in: “When — when did he go to the border?” [1]

The video above shows the exchange from the Nov. 30, 2022, White House briefing. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”When Did He Go to the Border?”

Jean-Pierre never answered with a date. Instead she switched to the administration’s record. “Since he took office, the — President Biden has been taking action to fix our immigration system and secure our border. And that’s why, on day one, he put forward an immigration — immigration reform — a piece of legislation,” she said [1].

Then she turned on Republicans. “We’re not seeing a willingness to work with us on — on, you know, fixing a situation that’s been around for decades now. Instead, they’re — they’re doing political stunts. That’s what they want to do,” Jean-Pierre said [1].

She listed the administration’s numbers. “We have over 23,000 agents working to secure the border. We’ve taken thousands of smugglers off the streets, and we’re cutting down on asylum processing times,” she said [1].

”No Record of Him Having Been There”

Fox News reported the same day that Jean-Pierre had made the claim “despite no record of him having been there — even as vice president.” Biden “has not visited the southern border nearly two years into his presidency,” Fox reported [2].

It was not the first time the question came up. Doocy had “pressed then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki on the same issue last year,” asking, “Why did President Biden say he has been to the border?” according to Fox [2].

What Texas Did Instead

While Biden stayed away, Texas acted on its own. When Abbott handed Biden his letter, his office listed what the state had done “in the wake of the federal government’s inaction,” including “Securing $4 billion in funding for Texas’ border security efforts” and “Launching Operation Lone Star and deploying thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers” [5].

The list also included “busing thousands of migrants to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia,” “Designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations to keep Texans safe amid the growing national fentanyl crisis” and “Allocating resources to acquire 1,700 unused steel panels to build the border wall in Texas” [5].

Doocy also used the Nov. 30 briefing to ask about the White House’s Twitter account, an exchange HYGO News covered in its page on “Why would we do that?”.

”We Don’t Think Anything Went Wrong”

The last question was about the looming rail strike. “On the potential rail strikes, some representatives today putting blame on the Biden administration, saying that it should have never come to this. What went wrong, from the administration’s point of view, in September?” a reporter asked [1].

“We don’t think anything went wrong,” Jean-Pierre answered. “So, again, this is a President that has delivered for — for the union, and he sees himself as a pro-union President.” [1]

Then she ended the briefing. “Thank you. Au revoir,” a reporter said. “Au revoir. Bonne nuit,” Jean-Pierre replied [1].

By the Numbers

39 days: from Jean-Pierre’s claim to Biden’s first visit to the border as president [1][3].
718 days: from Biden’s inauguration to that visit, on Jan. 8, 2023 [3].
23,000-plus: border agents Jean-Pierre cited [1].

What Happened Next

Biden finally went. On Jan. 8, 2023, Biden toured the border in El Paso, Texas. The official transcript notes that he “spoke at 2:51 p.m. during a tour of the border wall between El Paso, TX, and Juarez, Mexico.” Asked what he had learned, he said: “They need a lot of resources, and we’re going to get it for them” [3].

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, met him at the airport. The White House press pool reported that Abbott gave Biden “what looked like a sheet or sheets of paper” [4]. It was a letter. “This chaos is the direct result of your failure to enforce the immigration laws that Congress enacted,” Abbott wrote. “Your open-border policies have emboldened the cartels, who grow wealthy by trafficking deadly fentanyl and even human beings” [5].

“On behalf of all Americans, I implore you: Secure our border by enforcing Congress’s immigration laws,” the letter said [5]. The governor’s office noted that the trip was “the President’s first trip to the southern border since being sworn into office almost two years ago” [5].

Abbott also wrote that “Texans are paying an especially high price for your failure, sometimes with their very lives, as local leaders from your own party will tell you if given the chance” [5].

Asked about “Governor Abbott’s letter that he handed to you,” Biden said, “I didn’t get a chance to read it yet” [3].

At the Bridge of the Americas port of entry, agents showed Biden how smugglers hide drugs. “They then showed POTUS a radiator that is used to carry drugs and a hollowed out car batter that would be used to smuggle drugs,” the pool reported [4].

Trump declared an emergency. On Jan. 20, 2025, his first day back in office, President Donald Trump proclaimed that “a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States.” “America’s sovereignty is under attack,” the proclamation said. “Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers” [6].

For how Jean-Pierre handled the end of Title 42 weeks later, see HYGO News’ page on Jean-Pierre and the end of Title 42.