Posted 77 days ago
EXCLUSIVE: Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel blasted President Biden’s visit to the southern border Sunday as a "photo op," saying the president is only pretending to care now that the crisis is becoming a political liability.
McDaniel spoke to Fox News Digital en route to the border town of Mission, Texas, where she will be meeting with local community leaders and speaking to local media about the continuous flood of illegal immigrants into the area and its strain on the community.
The RNC chairwoman’s visit to Mission coincides with Biden’s first border visit of his presidency on Sunday, where he will briefly meet with Border Patrol agents in El Paso, about 800 miles northwest of Mission.
"Biden choosing to ignore it shows that he doesn't care about real problems that Americans are facing," McDaniel said. "Biden's never been here, and he's doing a photo op for three hours and has ignored this problem in the entirety of his presidency. These communities have been ravaged by the disastrous Biden policies, and I think it's important that he doesn't get a free pass."
"We need to hold him accountable," she continued. "This problem is not going away. And what he's offering today is empty rhetoric without any real enforcement increase, without more Border Patrol agents, without anything that's going to solve this problem. And unfortunately, the Biden administration continually gets away with pretending that they're doing things that they're not. And being here for 3 hours doesn't make up for ignoring this for the past three years.
"He has literally spent more time on vacation than dealing with issues that real Americans are dealing with," she added. "And I think, frankly, because he's going to Mexico, he says, ‘Oh, I should probably make a quick stop. Let's go clean up the streets before I get there. Let's do your photo op and let's put together a fake plan."
The RNC chairwoman suggested Biden’s visit to El Paso was an afterthought to his trip to Mexico City later Sunday for the North American Leaders’ Summit. She also cited reports that authorities have increased detainments and cleared migrant encampments in El Paso in the days leading up to Biden’s visit, and that the president is not being presented with the real picture.
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Fox News Digital earlier Sunday that reports tying the detentions in El Paso to the president's visit are false, and that Border Patrol "was conducting increased patrols before the President announced his visit to El Paso."... (Read more)