President Joe Biden’s administration is facing further fire over its Customs and Border Protection operations, the latest from an award-winning photojournalist.
On Friday, John Moore ripped what he called the “zero access” given the media at the southern border.
“I respectfully ask US Customs and Border Protection to stop blocking media access to their border operations,” Moore tweeted Friday. “I have photographed CBP under Bush, Obama and Trump but now – zero access is granted to media … .”
On Sunday, a top Biden team official responded to critics who say the administration has made repeated mistakes regarding its immigration policy resulting in a crush of migrants.
“The border is closed,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Now is not the time to come. Do not come. The journey is dangerous. … We are building safe, orderly and humane ways to address the needs of vulnerable children.”
Moore’s primary point is the loss of access on the border.
“There’s no modern precedent for a full physical ban on media access to CBP border operations,” Moore wrote on Twitter. “To those who might say, cut them some slack — they are dealing with a situation, I’d say that showing the US response to the current immigrant surge is exactly the media’s role.”
CBP officials told the Washington Examiner that Biden officials had “muzzled” spokespersons and top agents to prevent them from speaking with the press.
“I certainly wouldn’t characterize it that way,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “But if our policy is keeping people quiet, we are not successful, and it is not our policy to prevent people from talking.” She pointed reporters to DHS for the logistics of press access.
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