President Joe Biden on Thursday said he would be ‘flattered’ if migrants were coming to the United States because of him as he was grilled about his border policy during the first formal press conference of his presidency.
He also ridiculed the idea the surge in migrants at the border is because he’s a ‘nice guy.’
‘Look, I guess I should be flattered that people are coming because I am the nice guy, that that is why they are coming, that I am a decent man or however it was phrased. That that is why they are coming, because Biden is a decent guy. But the truth is nothing has changed,’ he said.
Biden was referring to Republican arguments that the migration surge is because of his more ‘humane’ policies. Republicans also claim that the border surge is because Biden rolled back some of former President Donald Trump’s stricter policies.
But the president claimed he was dealing with the fallout from his predecessor, saying Trump dismantled the immigration system.
Biden also repeated his argument that Trump is to blame for the thousand of migrants trying to cross into the United States as his administration struggles with what to do in the surge of migrant crossigns.
He was grilled on a number of topics, including the situation at the border, the Senate filibuster, working with Republicans, his 2024 re-election plans and Afghanistan – but received no questions on the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden took questions for nearly an hour in his first presidential press conference, answering multiple queries from the Associated Press, PBS, The Washington Post, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Bloomberg, Univision.
