The White House rebuked Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) following her rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union address. Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates denounced Britt for utilizing a discredited story about a migrant to oppose a bipartisan border security bill. Bates emphasized the choice between fighting over the border or fixing it, criticizing Britt’s preference for human smugglers over national security.
In her rebuttal, Britt focused on criticizing Biden’s management of the southern border, citing a meeting with a woman who claimed to have been raped multiple times in a cartel-run sex trafficking operation from the age of 12. Britt argued that such incidents are unacceptable, particularly in the U.S., and labeled the situation a crisis under Biden.
However, independent journalist Jonathan Katz and several news organizations clarified that the woman, Karla Jacinto Romero, testified in 2015 about abuses that occurred between 2004 and 2008, unrelated to Biden’s policies. Despite these facts, a spokesperson for Britt confirmed the story was about Romero but contested the notion that Britt’s comments were misleading.
Britt, in a “Fox News Sunday” interview, defended her use of the story as emblematic of broader issues with the president’s border policy.
The controversy also touches on opposition to a Senate bipartisan border security bill, which aims to enhance Border Patrol resources, end catch and release, and impose stricter asylum criteria. The bill faced resistance from Republican senators after discouragement from former President Trump.
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