The Patriot Post® · Biden's Opaque Border 'Transparency'

By Thomas Gallatin ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/78755-bidens-opaque-border-transparency-2021-03-29

Ever since Joe Biden reversed Donald Trump’s successful border-enforcement policies, hordes of migrants have rushed to illegally cross into the U.S., creating a humanitarian crisis that is fast threatening to spiral entirely out of control. The few available visuals show scenes of overcrowding conditions with minors kept in cages facilities where they are sleeping and covering nearly every square inch of available floorspace.

Even still, the Biden-Harris administration continues to insist that the border crisis is no crisis at all — that it’s merely a “challenge” over which it has complete control. However, to continue presenting this fraudulent narrative, the administration has increasingly worked to prevent news and especially images of the crisis from getting out to the American public.

Just last week, a delegation of 18 senators visited the border to ascertain the conditions of the holding facilities. During the visit, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) attempted to take pictures and video footage of the kids in cages facilities when a member of Customs and Border Protection stopped him, insisting that he “respect” the dignity of the migrants.

Republican Senator Mike Braun (IN) was asked to delete his photos. Braun explained, “There was one of Biden’s representatives. I felt sorry for the lady because she actually talked to me about deleting a picture, but by the time she got to me, all those other pictures were taken, and that shows you the hypocrisy. None of us would have gone down there if we were going to be muzzled.” He observed that Border Patrol officials were only asking that no photos be taken “because they had to.”

Biden, who has repeatedly touted the transparency of his administration, was asked last week when the press would have access to the border facilities. “I will commit when my plan, very shortly, is underway to let you have access to not just them, but to other facilities as well,” he equivocated. He added, “I will commit to transparency … as soon as I am in a position to be able to implement what we are doing right now.”

A reporter pressed a bit, asking, “And just to be clear: How soon will that be, Mr. President?” to which Biden retorted, “I don’t know, to be clear.”

When the question was raised again on Friday during the White House press briefing — with a reporter inferring that Biden “will let more cameras in once [he’s] satisfied with the conditions” — Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded, “That’s not actually what he meant.” She then explained, “What he was conveying is, right now, his focus is on moving these kids out of these Border Patrol facilities — right? — and making sure it’s done in a way that keeps them safe and keeps everyone safe.”

In other words, you’re not allowed to see our messy room until we clean it up. That’s not how transparency works.

Even Fox News’s Chris Wallace took the Biden administration to task over its lack of transparency, observing that Team Biden is “less transparent” than the Trump administration. But Fox isn’t the only mainstream media outlet being denied access. CBS News’s Margaret Brennan explained that the network had to use photos provided by Democrat Representative Henry Cuellar (TX) “because journalists are being blocked largely by the Biden administration from bringing our own cameras inside to do firsthand reporting.”

And there is still no word on when Biden’s newly appointed border czar, Kamala Harris, plans to visit the border.

Finally, the Government Accountability Office opened an investigation into whether Biden’s order halting funding for the construction of the border wall violated the law. The request to investigate was made by more than 70 GOP members of Congress who argue that Biden’s EO was “a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’ constitutional power of the purse.”

Indeed, it turns out the only wall Biden is building is the one between his administration and the American people.