Bill Melugin lays out why Biden did not see the actual border crisis: 'This was hard to do'
Fox News correspondent returns from border, says Biden visited El Paso bridge where 'nothing is happening'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin said Tuesday "it's clear" that President Biden chose to avoid any border hotspots that show the daily influx of migrants after his administration has repeatedly claimed the southern border is secure.
Melugin, who has reported extensively in recent years from the southern border, joined "Fox & Friends" in-studio to respond to Biden's first visit to the southern border.
"His administration keeps saying, don't come, don't come, don't come. That's not working. I mean, the record numbers keep going up month after month, and wait until the December numbers come out because I'm hearing there are going to be possibly the highest ever recorded."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Melugin said Biden went to visit the Customs and Border Protection's port of entry, a bridge where "nothing is happening."
EL PASO CLEANUP BEFORE BIDEN BORDER TRIP SLAMMED AS ‘LOUSY TENANTS’ TRYING TO SAVE THEIR DEPOSIT
President Joe Biden speaks with a member of the Border Patrol as they walk along the border fence in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Melugin said mass illegal immigration takes place in between the ports of entry along the river, which is where Biden could have gone to witness the crisis firsthand.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Melugin also said the president could have gone to Anapra, New Mexico, where migrants are seen hopping over the wall, or a processing center that is well over capacity.
"It's clear his team didn't want to go see any of that or go near any of that," said Melugin. "He went to a migrant assistance center run by El Paso County, and conveniently, there wasn't a single migrant there that day. How does that happen?"
Melugin said the president's team chose the spots he visited because they are "much more controlled."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You can't have your secretary of Homeland Security constantly testifying under oath that the border is secure. Then have the president go down there and have waves of people coming in the river behind you."
As a result of the policies from the Biden administration, migrants believe they can cross into the United States without repercussions.
"We've seen people climb over the border wall, believe it or not, we've seen people climb out of storm drains down in the McAllen area," said Melugin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It just goes to show that people believe if they can just step foot on U.S. soil right now, they're willing to do whatever it takes because if they can just step foot on U.S. soil, they believe they're going to be released into the country."
Melugin said the Biden administration rarely shows evidence of deportations, pointing out the calls to do so by Democrat Henry Cuellar.
"The administration does deport some people, but they never show it," he added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former acting ICE director Tom Homan said Biden's border trip was "just another political stunt and a photo op," as he predicts he is about to announce his candidacy for re-election.
"What he should have done from the time he landed is apologize to the men and women, the horse patrol who he slandered from the White House podium, because he still hasn't even announced that those men were innocent and put them back to work," Homan said on "Fox & Friends."
Homan said Biden's executive orders "abolished" the most secure border seen under the Trump administration.
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"He (Biden) should apologize for signing 90 executive orders that abolished the most secure border these men and women ever had. And he should have spent a few minutes and asked why there are 14 suicides of Border Patrol agents in one year. Try to understand that, try to see if Washington can help with this."