Does Biden Want More Migrants in Delaware? Jean-Pierre: 'I Don't Even Understand That Question' (October 19, 2022)

The White House had spent weeks blasting Republican governors for sending migrants to Democratic cities. So a reporter asked the obvious follow-up: “But does President Biden want more migrants to come to Delaware?”

“I don’t even understand that question. But I’ll move on,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered. The video above shows the exchange from the Oct. 19, 2022, White House briefing. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”Where Should They Send the Migrants?”

The reporter set it up with a question about overwhelmed cities. “You have condemned governors sending migrants through various cities across the country. But where should officials that are overwhelmed by the number of migrants coming into their cities and into their shelters — where should they send the migrants?” [1]

Jean-Pierre answered with the administration’s talking points. “Well, we have said many times before there’s a process — a legal process, and that we are willing to work with cities who are dealing with this issue,” she said [1].

Then she went after the governors. “What we have seen from governors is that they are using — using migrants as a political tool. And that’s not the way to do it,” she said. “They’re sending migrants without letting city — city officials know and without letting the federal government know. And what they do is they call TV news stations to be there to capture this moment and use it as a political stunt” [1].

The administration was “willing and open to work with cities that are dealing with this issue, as we have done with New York City, as we have done with Washington, D.C., and other — and other cities as well,” she added [1].

”I Don’t Even Understand That Question”

Then came the follow-up about the president’s home state, and Jean-Pierre’s brush-off: “I don’t even understand that question. But I’ll move on” [1].

The question was not out of nowhere. Delaware had been on the migrant map just a month earlier.

The Flight That Never Landed in Delaware

On Sept. 20, 2022, a crowd gathered at a small airport in Georgetown, Delaware, near Biden’s home, waiting for a planeload of migrants expected from San Antonio as part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ program, NBC News reported. No plane arrived. Instead, it landed in Teterboro, New Jersey, outside New York City, where Biden was in town for the United Nations General Assembly [2].

The week before, DeSantis had chartered two planes that carried about 50 migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, NBC reported [2].

Biden joked about it. Asked whether migrants would get off a plane near his home, he said of DeSantis: “He should come visit. We have a beautiful shoreline” [2].

Jean-Pierre was less amused that day. “Our heads-up did not come from Gov. DeSantis, because his only goal is, as he’s made it really clear, is to create chaos and use immigrants fleeing communism as political pawns,” she said, according to NBC [2]. A spokeswoman for Delaware Gov. John Carney, a Biden ally, said his office was aware of the possible flight and was ready [2].

Abbott’s Buses

The busing was Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s idea first. In late August 2022, Abbott said he planned to send buses to more “sanctuary cities” around the country. “We are not done yet,” he told a Republican club in Fairview, Texas. “There are more cities on the list.” State figures released that week showed Texas had spent more than $12 million to bus migrants to New York and Washington, D.C., more than $1,300 per passenger [3].

DeSantis argued that the burden belonged with the places that welcomed migrants. “If you believe in open borders, then it’s the sanctuary jurisdictions that should have to bear the brunt of the open borders,” he told reporters in Florida [2].

By the Numbers

About 50: migrants DeSantis flew from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022 [2].
$12 million-plus: what Texas had spent busing migrants to New York and Washington by the end of August 2022 [3].
51,840: migrants Texas had bused to six Democratic-run cities from April 2022 to October 2023, including 18,500 to New York City, 13,500 to Chicago and 12,500 to Washington, D.C. [4].
0: migrant flights that landed in Delaware on Sept. 20, 2022 [2].

What Happened Next

The buses kept rolling. By October 2023, Abbott’s office said 51,840 migrants had been bused from Texas since April 2022 [4]. “Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said [4].

The border numbers kept climbing. Southwest border encounters hit a record 2.47 million in fiscal 2023, as HYGO News reported in its page on Peter Doocy’s Title 42 questions to Jean-Pierre.

Texas went further. In 2023, Abbott called a special legislative session on a state crime of illegal entry. “For the first time ever, Texas will subject people to arrest for illegal entry into our state from a foreign nation,” he said [4].

More of Jean-Pierre’s answers, checked against the record, are on HYGO News’ Karine Jean-Pierre record page.