What Do You Call 10,000 Illegal Crossings in a Day? Jean-Pierre Cuts Off Doocy: 'We're Moving On' (September 21, 2023)

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked the White House a one-line question about the border on Sept. 21, 2023: “So, what do you call it here at the White House when 10,000 people illegally cross the border in a single day?” Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered with a question of her own, then shut the exchange down. “No, no, no — no, no, no. We’re moving on,” she said [1].

The video above shows the exchange. The next day, Jean-Pierre invited Doocy to ask again, and he pressed her on her own words from a month earlier. Quotes are from the official transcripts published by the American Presidency Project [1][2].

”What Do You Call It, Peter?”

Jean-Pierre turned the question around. “So, what do you call it, Peter, when GOP puts forth a — wait, no —” she said, as Doocy tried to clarify. “No, no, no, no, no, no, you can’t —” [1]

“I’m answering,” she said. Then: “Okay, we’re going to move on” [1].

Doocy objected that she was “answering a question … with a question.” Jean-Pierre called on a reporter “in the back.” Doocy kept going: “You said he was stopping the … flow at the border. … Ten thousand migrants —” [1]

“I tried to answer the question, and you stopped me,” Jean-Pierre said. “Let’s go” [1].

The Answer She Had Just Given

Doocy’s question came right after a long answer on the border. The question before it noted that the administration had announced the day before that it was granting temporary legal status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, while the city of Eagle Pass, Texas, had declared a state of emergency over a migrant surge. Would the timing make things worse? [1]

Jean-Pierre listed the administration’s steps, including “deploying 800 new active-duty military personnel to support border efforts,” on top of 2,500 National Guard personnel, and “the 24,000 CBP agents and officers along the southwest border.” She then turned on House Republicans, saying their stopgap spending bill “would lead 800 CBP agents and officers being fired” [1].

When Doocy asked his question, she reached for the same Republican line, then broke off when he cut in [1].

”We Are Stopping the Flow at the Border”

Doocy’s follow-up threw Jean-Pierre’s own words back at her. At the Aug. 30 briefing, he had read her a line from New York City Mayor Eric Adams: “Any plan that does not include stopping the flow at the border is a failed plan.” Then he asked, “So, why aren’t you guys stopping the flow at the border?” [4]

“We are stopping the flow at the border,” Jean-Pierre answered. She said “the data is showing is — that it is indeed stopping, slowing down the flow of unlawful migration” [4]. In the same turn, Doocy went on to ask about the federal response to the Maui wildfires, Fox News reported [5]. HYGO News covered that exchange.

The Numbers Behind the Question

Doocy’s figure came from Customs and Border Protection data. CBP reported that more than 7,500 migrants illegally crossed the border on the Sunday before the briefing, with the number rising to more than 10,000 a day later in the week, Fox News reported [3].

September ended with a record. Southwest border encounters rose from 232,963 in August to 269,735 in September, and fiscal 2023 closed with a record 2.47 million migrant encounters at the southern border, Cronkite News reported [6]. September’s total stood as the monthly record until that December [7].

”We Should Try This Again”

The next day, Jean-Pierre called on Doocy with a joke. “I know — I know your — your dad had some thoughts about our back-and-forth yesterday, so maybe we sh- — we should try this again,” she said [2]. The exchange had drawn the ire of Fox News host Steve Doocy, Peter Doocy’s father, Mediaite reported [8].

“Same question as yesterday,” Doocy said. Asked to repeat it, he did: “What do you call it when 10,000 people illegally cross the border in a single day?” [2]

This time she answered, though she never gave it a name. She said Biden had proposed comprehensive immigration reform on his first day, that “we are dealing with a broken system,” and that the administration “has removed more than 250,000 individuals … since May 12th.” She blamed “Speaker McCarthy and the Republicans in Congress” [2].

Doocy pressed. “But when you spoke last month … you said, ‘We are stopping the flow at the border,’ is 10,000 migrants in a single day stopping the flow?” [2]

Jean-Pierre repeated the 250,000 figure and pointed to Eagle Pass, where she said CBP “quickly surged resources and personnel to the area” and processed more than 2,500 people into custody. “Remember, House Republicans are trying to cut that,” she said [2].

”He’s Turned This Into a Political Stunt”

The next reporter asked about the barrier Texas had built. “So, there was footage yesterday of Border Patrol cutting some of the razor wire that Texas had installed. Governor Abbott has vowed to reinstall it. They have pic- — his border czar has pictures of people taking fresh razor wire out to the border to reinstall it. Is there now a federal policy of removing the barriers that Texas is installing?” [1]

“Here’s what I — I’ll say: I would have to look into that,” Jean-Pierre answered. “But as it relates to Governor Abbott, we know what he has done this past — these past couple of years while this President has been in office. He’s — he’s turned this — when it comes to the border, he’s turned this into a political stunt.” [1]

The reporter pressed with numbers from the ground: “The mayor of Eagle Pass tells us at least 5,000 people crossed probably yesterday or in the last two days — maybe a lot more.” [1]

By the Numbers

10,000+: illegal crossings in a single day, the CBP figure behind Doocy’s question [1][3].
7,500+: illegal crossings on the Sunday before the briefing [3].
269,735: southwest border encounters in September 2023, up from 232,963 in August [6].
2.47 million: migrant encounters at the southern border in fiscal 2023, a record [6].
800: active-duty troops Jean-Pierre said were being sent to support the border [1].
250,000+: people the White House said had been removed since May 12, 2023 [2].
302,034: encounters in December 2023, a new monthly record [7].

What Happened Next

A new record. In December 2023, CBP counted 302,034 migrant encounters at the southern border, breaking the monthly record set in September and passing 300,000 for the first time, Fox News reported [7].

The Supreme Court let the wire come down. On Jan. 22, 2024, the Court granted the administration’s application in Department of Homeland Security v. Texas and vacated a Fifth Circuit order, the docket shows. “Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would deny the application to vacate injunction.” [13]

Mayorkas impeached. On Feb. 13, 2024, the House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas 214-213. He was the first sitting Cabinet secretary ever impeached, the AP reported [9]. On April 17, the Senate, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, killed both articles without a trial. Senators voted 51 to 48, with one voting present, to kill the first on Schumer’s motion that “it does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor,” then voted to table the second, CNN reported [10].

Biden acts alone. On June 4, 2024, more than eight months after the Doocy exchange, Biden signed a proclamation suspending and limiting entry across the southern border during high crossings. The proclamation said that, “following the Congress’s failure to pass the bipartisan legislative proposal, I must exercise my executive authorities to meet the moment.” The limits lift 14 days after crossings average fewer than 1,500 encounters a day for seven straight days, and return when the seven-day average reaches 2,500 or more [11].

The lowest since 1970. Fiscal 2025, which began under Biden and ended under President Donald Trump, closed with 237,565 Border Patrol apprehensions, the lowest since 1970, according to preliminary figures announced by DHS and CBP. Fox News reported that 72% of that total came during the last 111 days of the Biden administration [12].

For Doocy’s May 2023 question on sending troops to the border, see that exchange. More of Jean-Pierre’s answers checked against the record are on HYGO News’ Karine Jean-Pierre record page.