During a recent press briefing, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby was unable to provide a clear response to a query regarding illegal immigrants who have been assigned court dates as distant as 2031.
The question was posed by Fox Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn, following a report by Fox News' Bill Melugin that a migrant was recently released by federal authorities and given a court date a decade away.
The unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings has significantly contributed to the existing backlog in immigration courts, which currently stands at approximately 3 million cases. "What are they supposed to do here for seven years?" Vaughn inquired, referring to the immigrants who have been assigned court dates in 2031.
Kirby responded, "Thats a better question put to DHS, Im not in a position to talk about specific cases like that. The president believes that weve got to do better at immigration and he is willing to talk and negotiate with members of Congress about immigration policy, just as well as he is about border security, but Im not in a position to talk about the specifics."
According to preliminary data recently obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Border Patrol agents have encountered over 547,000 migrants illegally crossing the southern border since October.
Vaughn further questioned, "After someone has lived here for seven years and presumably gotten a work permit and worked here. If their asylum claim is denied, are they really going to be deported or is that just a problem for the next president?"
Kirby refrained from speculating on hypothetical situations, stating, "He does believe and he has worked to increase legal pathways to citizenship, but obviously illegal pathways, you know, they need to be held account if youre trying to come into the country illegally."
Despite Kirby's reluctance to provide direct answers, Vaughn persisted, asking whether the president was considering the long-term implications of assigning court dates seven years into the future. She questioned whether this was creating a significant problem for a future president to resolve, particularly if these individuals have been working, living, and potentially starting families in the U.S. for seven years.
Kirby reiterated his stance, stating, "Again, Im not going to get into hypothetical cases here. On day one of the administration, the president put to Congress a proposal for immigration reform. He has said in recent days hes willing to have a serious discussion with members of Congress about immigration policy. So, lets see where that goes, but hes taken the issue very very seriously."
Recently, immigration has emerged as a hot-button issue on Capitol Hill, as Democrats and Republicans attempt to negotiate a deal tying border security funding to an aid package for Israel and Ukraine. However, a consensus is not expected to be reached until 2024.
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