Moody: White House is ‘Lying’ or ‘Not Paying Attention’ on Migrants Illegally Crossing U.S. Border

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody slammed the Biden Administration after White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed migrants do not “walk over” the U.S. Southern Border.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy questioned Jean-Pierre on the U.S. migrant crisis on the border with Mexico.

“Somebody unvaccinated comes over on a plane – you say that’s not OK. Somebody walks into Texas or Arizona unvaccinated, they’re allowed to stay? Why?” Doocy asked.

The press secretary responded: “But, that’s not how it works… It’s not like somebody walks over… That’s not, that’s not…”

Doocy fired back: “That’s exactly what’s happening. Thousands of people are walking in a day. Some of them turn themselves over, some of them are caught. Tens of thousands a week are not, that is what is happening.”

Moody commented on the exchange, saying the White House is either “lying or just not paying attention.”

“Either way, it is terrifying that a White House spokesperson can stand in front of reporters and claim there are not thousands of migrants walking across our border illegally—when pictures, videos and reports prove otherwise,” she continued.

Critics fired back at the White House’s comments with photo and video of migrants doing what Jean-Pierre claimed is not happening.

Moody’s office questioned U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, causing him to admit that the southern border is in “crisis,” is making the border “less safe for Americans and aliens alike,” and that since Joe Biden took office, migrants “perceive that they will be able to enter and remain in the United States.”

“Under oath, Ortiz testified that the Biden administration purposely reduced detention capacity of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and narrowed removal pathways—increasing pressure on Border Patrol,” they said. “Ortiz claimed these changes left the patrol with no other choice but to release hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the interior even though they were likely inadmissible into the United States.”

“After the Biden administration denied that they were engaged in catch-and-release, and that they were responsible for the historic surge at our southern border, Florida got the Chief of Border Patrol to admit, under oath, the truth,” Moody said. “The Biden administration caused the surge, made the border less safe, and is flagrantly violating the very federal laws they swore to uphold. The Biden administration is putting hard-working border patrol agents in impossible and untenable positions—risking their lives and safety, and I want to thank Chief Ortiz for testifying truthfully at his deposition.”

Moody claimed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies are not following federal immigration law. They note that in the last full month of the Trump Administration, Border Patrol released 17 illegal immigrants into the U.S., pending resolution.

To view the amended complaint in the case, click here.

Read the entire deposition here.

The trial of Florida’s case is taking place in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida and set for trial in Jan. 2023.