'Special Report' All-Star Panel on White House's confusion with border numbers

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Katie Pavlich: Until there is a policy change, this horrific situation will continue

‘Special Report’ All-Star Panel break down Biden’s handling of the migrant surge at the Texas border.

This is a rush transcript of "Special Report with Bret Baier" on September 22, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think in the eyes of Americans has changed that you guys have not done well enough? 

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  The country is going through a lot right now. Our objective is to keep pushing his agenda forward and keep making their lives better. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has President Biden ever been to the southern border? 

PSAKI:  In his life. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. 

PSAKI:  I will have to look back in my history books and check the times he has been to the southern border. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been looking all morning, and we cannot find any record of him visiting the border. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When can we expect to have an opportunity to actually ask the president questions in a formal setting? 

PSAKI:  I don't know that the format, whether it is multiple shorter Q and A's or a longer formal press conference is at the top of the list of the American public's concern. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  Just a taste of the White House briefing today as the questions on a number of different fronts a little bit more pointed. The biggest is the border crisis Del Rio, Texas, the Haitian immigrants. We know some have been released into the U.S. we don't know how many. The DHS has put out a statement saying "Those who cannot be expelled under Title 42," that's the health ruling, "and do not have a legal basis to remain are placed in expedited or full removal proceedings. Individuals who are not immediately repatriated are either placed in alternatives to detention, detained in an ICE facility, or released with a legal document, either a notice to appear in court or a notice to report to ICE office for further immigration processing. The document an individual receives is dependent on facility space and resources available to process." So you can process all of that. 

It's messy. 

Let's bring in our panel, Katie Pavlich, news editor at Townhall.com, Kimberley Strassel, a member of the editorial board at "The Wall Street Journal," and Charles Lane, opinion writer for "The Washington Post." What about how this administration is handling this moment, Kimberley, especially when it comes to the border? 

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, "WALL STREET JOURNAL":  I think if you step back, one of the problems that Joe Biden just has in his presidency is he has yet to pick a spot. He ran as a moderate, right? And if you look out there, the vast majority of Americans want a secure border, and so that requires him to go and deal with this Haitian problem. 

At the same time, he is trying to cater and has been from the beginning to progressives who are demanding policies that are behind the reason why we are having these surges, and the administration seems not willing to change track on those policies. And so you end up with the hits from both sides. 

And until this president decides how he is going to govern, I don't see how that changes in any other issue as well as either. 

BAIER:  As this is happening, obviously reporters are asking for specifics and specific numbers. Lawmakers are asking that, too. Here is just a compilation of the lack of data.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY:  Irregular migration, the perilous journey is not the journey to take. One risks one's life, the life of one's loved ones, for a mission that will not succeed. 

SEN. RON JOHNSON, (R-WI) SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE:  How many people have been returned? How many people are being detained? How many people have been dispersed to all points around America? 

MAYORKAS:  Senator, I would be pleased to provide you with that data. 

JOHNSON:  I want them now. 

MAYORKAS:  I work 18 hours a day, OK? So when I return from yesterday's hearing, I actually focused on mission. We will get that data both TO the senator who posed it yesterday and to you, Congressman, today. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  We don't have it as of yet, Chuck, but we know from authorities on the ground at the border that they estimate thousands of Haitian immigrants have been released into the U.S. on notice to appear, and we know how that goes. 

CHARLES LANE, OPINION WRITER, "WASHINGTON POST":  I think it was a little unfair, and the usual hearings grandstanding, to sort of badger Secretary Mayorkas for those numbers now. But, yes, it would be helpful to know what the figures are.

On the other hand, Bret, I think it's pretty obvious it's a lot of people. 

Furthermore, it's going to be more people. There are people moving through Mexico now hoping to get across the border. Although I think if you are against having more of this, you have to at least give the administration credit for doing enough deportations now to deter some people who are thinking about coming. There is some evidence in the reporting that migrants are telling their family members who are on the way that it's not such a good idea. 

Look, the bottom line here is we do not have law and policy in place to deal with the fact that a lot of people want to come to the United States on the one hand, and on the other hand, a lot of them don't meet the criteria for asylum. Unless and until Republicans get it through their heads that this isn't just something to exploit for political purposes, it's something we really need to do and they can work together with Democrats, and Democrats, on the other hand, get it through their heads that no, we can't have open borders, I think we are going to be stuck in this situation. 

BAIER:  But Democrats trying to put in immigration reform or a pathway to citizenship in a budget bill is not really how Republicans are going to respond to that. 

Katie, obviously they are concerned about border security. Tonight, NBC is reporting that the Biden administration is seeking a private contractor to operate a migrant detention facility at Guantanamo Bay with a requirement that some of the guards speak Spanish and Haitian Creole. That would be quite a turn for Gitmo if that, in fact, happens. And you wonder what the Democrat response to that will be. 

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  File that suggestion in the if President Trump did it, and I'm sure the media would have a very different take on that even suggestion of what's going on. The reason why maybe that's happening is because Border Patrol has told the administration that there is intelligence that there may be thousands more Haitians goings to the border. And when you have an administration that is standing up at press conferences, during briefings with reporters, and repeatedly telling the American people who are watching that they are not seeing what their eyes can clearly see with camps being set up, with people crossing the river and Border Patrol agents trying to do their jobs and stop them from coming, they can see what's going on. 

And in terms of what is happening on the ground, there is bipartisan agreement in places like Texas. You had yesterday Governor Greg Abbott with the mayor, who is a Democrat in Del Rio, coming together to address this crisis. The Democratic mayor of Del Rio has begged Joe Biden to visit the border. And the bottom line is until there is a policy change, rather than words from DHS Secretary Mayorkas not to come, that it's a dangerous journey for you, not to send your families, as long as the Biden administration allows family units to stay and for the bar for staying in the United States to be a simple statement of I fear for my life, I'm seeking asylum from my country, and I was persecuted, which is a very low bar, this will continue. This will absolutely continue, and we'll continue to see these horrific humanitarian situations playing out on the border. 

BAIER:  Obviously, this is being asked about now. It's being talked about now. But it wasn't for weeks as this was happening, Kimberley. The one thing that was talked about this week more than anything else was this image of the Border Patrol agents on horseback and using the reins there. 

And there is one particular image that people started saying it was whips that they were using. That is not the case. Just take a listen to this. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D-CA):  What the hell are we doing here? What we witnessed takes us back hundreds of years. What we witnessed was worse than what we witnessed in slavery. 

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  Those individuals were placed on administrative leave and will not be interacting with any migrants. We are not going to stand for that kind of inhumane treatment. 

REP. HENRY CUELLAR, (D-TX):  Border Patrol has had those horse brigades for a while. They have had them for a while. They don't carry whips and they do not carry lassos. 

What are they supposed to do, just stand there and let everybody come in? 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  That last person, Democrat Henry Cuellar. Kimberley? 

STRASSEL:  It's a really important point. Not only is it not true, but also

-- and this is an administration attempting to foist the responsibility on this off on Border Patrol agents who because of administration policies have been overwhelmed. They are undermanned. They don't have what they need. And yet now we're going to have an investigation and put people on leave for their inability to handle with a border crisis that was generated by the administration itself. 

BAIER:  All right, up next, the president's poll numbers, they are dipping in several places, and Democratic prospects in the midterm elections, we'll look at that with the panel. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER, (D-NJ):  I don't get why any Democrat would block the president's agenda on Monday and stop the infrastructure bill. That makes no sense to me. 

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL, (D-WA):  If we don't have the reconciliation bill, we will not be able to vote for the infrastructure bill. 

SEN. TIM KAINE, (D-VA): When we need them, Joe Manchin is there. And he is entitled to negotiate, hey, look, I'm negotiating on the reconciliation bill. I'm not doing it in public. But they need my vote, too. 

NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER:  We are on schedule. That's all I will say. And we are calm. And everybody is good. And our work is almost done. 

So we're in good shape. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER:  Speaker Pelosi saying we are in good shape as there is a battle inside the Democratic Party about what to do with these big bills. The infrastructure bill that's bipartisan, waiting on a vote in the House, already passed the Senate, and the $3.5 reconciliation bill causing a lot of headaches, especially for moderates. 

The president's approval rating in a number of swing states is dropping. If you look at Iowa, 31 percent. We put that up the other day. New Hampshire under water, Michigan, Virginia -- Virginia has its own governor's race coming up this year let alone the midterm elections next year. The latest polls out of "Washington Post" has likely voters with Youngkin, the Republican, 47, McAuliffe 50 percent. Some other polls have that, again, essentially tied. 

We are back with the panel. Chuck, what about this as the president's approval slides because of a number of different reasons? How do Democrats look at this? We are a long way from 2022. 

LANE:  There's two schools of thought, obviously. The progressive view is that the way to win this election next year is to pass a lot of bills that the polls say are popular and that fulfill many of the promises that they made in 2020, including that President Biden made. And moderates look at it from the point of view of their districts, which are a lot closer, and say if we embrace that entire agenda, I'm going to lose my seat, which is part of losing the House. 

The truth of the matter is, Bret, that with redistricting and with the usual trend of a president's first term being unfavorable in House elections, Democrats really don't have a great chance to begin with of holding the House. 

I think in a way, I agree with Kim that what's going to be really interesting to watch is how President Biden defines himself, which will affect 2024. Is he going to govern with the moderates, or is he going to follow the progressives in his party? 

BAIER:  Kim, that is a good question, because obviously he campaigned as somebody who was going to work across the aisle and be bipartisan. But he is governing, at least the legislation that he is advocating for, much more like an FDR figure or progressive figure. 

STRASSEL:  And I would have to say that that is behind these fall in these poll numbers. So in one way, you can make the argument that maybe the best thing that could happen to Joe Biden would indeed be the failure at least of this $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Yes, progressives would be angry, but it would be a chance for him to reset, get back to that and what he said he was going to govern as, claim that infrastructure bill as a win, as a bipartisan win, and start afresh. And we will see if that has landed on and whether he wants it or not. 

BAIER:  Yes. Katie, the battles don't help the president up on Capitol Hill when progressives are saying take out the Iron Dome funding for Israel and the replenishing of those missiles. They managed to squeak it back in the bill, but the progressives are not happy about that. 

PAVLICH:  And that will certainly be another issue that they are going to have to fight over to get what they want. But in terms of the Iron Dome, it's a bigger question obviously of American foreign policy when you have people like Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on the Foreign Affairs Committee and making those big decisions when the Iron Dome specifically a system that is defensive to protect Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Israel from being murdered by Iranian backed Hamas and Hezbollah rockets. 

And so they make this argument that they are standing up for the Palestinians, but the reality is about the Iron Dome it that it allows Israel to defend itself against rocket attacks specifically from Gaza in recent times, and it allows them to have a buffer zone so that they don't have to respond immediately with fighter jets or drones in places like Gaza. 

And so, it not only puts innocent civilians in Israel at risk, but it puts civilians in places like Gaza at risk as well because Hamas, of course, uses them as human shields. 

BAIER:  Chuck, do you think that the president not answering a lot of questions, really any questions in recent days, has hurt this White House, or they are playing it kind of like the election? 

LANE:  I think they feel it's better not to do it. This has not been a great month or six-week period for the president. Let's face it. The Afghanistan thing didn't go well. Things are not settled at the border. We have just been through the whole list. There's a lot of downside to putting a president, any president, in front of the press, especially, as you pointed out, an aggressive press, and risking those questions and answers. 

I think they would rather have some good news to report before they went out and did another press conference. 

BAIER:  It's night and day from the last administration, the last president. We heard every thought. He answered every question on the way to the Marine One, and obviously we heard every thought on Twitter as well. It is quite stark. 

Panel, stand by. When we come back, tomorrow's headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER:  Finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines with the panel. 

Katie, first to you. 

PAVLICH:  Biden's build back better plan is doomed to fail and Democrats are to blame. 

BAIER:  Short and sweet, Katie. Chuck? 

LANE:  My item is Evergrande, the Chinese real estate giant, defaults on bonds. That's not actually a prediction for tomorrow's headline, but it's going to be the headline someday very soon, and the Chinese government is going to have to decide whether to bail them out or not. 

BAIER:  That will have ripple effects around the world. Kimberley?

STRASSEL:  Biden's approval continues to drop. We talked a little bit today about the dip today in some states, but between escalating border crisis, rising inflation, this reconciliation bill mess, there is still plenty of room for it to fall. 

BAIER:  All right, panel, thanks so much. Tomorrow on SPECIAL REPORT, former Congresswoman and Army Reservist Tulsi Gabbard back deployment in Africa to go after Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists. She will talk to us about the state of affairs today. 

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. FOX NEWS PRIMETIME hosted by Pete Hegseth starts right now. Hey, Pete. 

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