Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

"Don't Come Over": Joe Biden To Migrants As Criticism Over Surge Grows

"Don't Come Over": Joe Biden To Migrants As Criticism Over Surge Grows

"Yes I can say quite clearly don't come over ... Don't leave your town or city or community," Joe Biden said in an interview with ABC News, addressing the migrants.

US President Joe Biden urged migrants not to come to the United States on Tuesday, as criticism mounted over a surge in people arriving at the southern border with Mexico -- including thousands of unaccompanied children.

"Yes I can say quite clearly don't come over ... Don't leave your town or city or community," he said in an interview with ABC News, addressing the migrants.

Speaking hours after his head of homeland security defended the administration's imigration policies, Biden also shrugged off claims that his dismantling of former president Donald Trump's tough stance had encouraged the surge, pointing out that there had been similar surges in 2019 and 2020.

"The idea that Joe Biden said 'come' - I heard the other day that they're coming because I'm a nice guy... Here's the deal, they're not," he said.

On January 20, his first day in office, Biden scrapped several of Donald Trump's contentious immigration policies, including halting new construction of a border wall and proposing legislation to create a citizenship pathway for the nearly 11 million people living illegally in the US.

Republican critics say Biden's policies caused a sharp increase in migrants seeking to cross into the US illegally.

The president spoke a day after top Republican congressman Kevin McCarthy visited the border in Texas with fellow Republican lawmakers and accused Biden of creating a "crisis."

Migrant spikes 'not new'


Biden's chief of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday also defended the administration's immigration policies.

Mayorkas acknowledged the United States was "on pace" to encounter more migrants at the border than at any time in two decades, but said such spikes were "not new," having also occurred in 2019, 2014 and earlier.

"The situation we are currently facing at the southwest border is a difficult one," Mayorkas said in a statement.

"We are keeping our borders secure, enforcing our laws, and staying true to our values and principles."

Mayorkas said the rise in unaccompanied children -- some as young as six or seven -- comes from ending the policies of Trump, whose administration "cruelly expelled young children into the hands of traffickers."

"They are vulnerable children and we have ended the prior administration's practice of expelling them," he said.

The Biden administration continues to expel most single adults and people traveling in families.

In February, the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) arrested about 100,000 people at the southern border -- including nearly 9,500 unaccompanied children -- a 28 percent jump over January.

Mayorkas blasted the Trump administration for having cut aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras meant to tackle the root causes of migration such as violence and the impacts of natural disasters.

Holding facilities for apprehended migrants are crowded, Mayorkas said, noting authorities had not "had the capacity to intake the number of unaccompanied children we have been encountering."

Complicating conditions, pandemic-related physical distancing protocols have further reduced space, said Mayorkas, who has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help activate additional facilities.

Cuban-born Mayorkas said his parents, who brought him to the US as an infant, "understood the hope and promise of America."

"Today, young children are arriving at our border with that same hope," he said. "We can do this."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×