White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One on Monday the country's southern border is "closed" when asked about the deaths of over 40 illegal immigrants, who were found inside a semi-truck trailer outside of San Antonio, Texas, in what is believed to have been a human smuggling operation.
Someone called the police after hearing cries for help coming from the trailer. While it did have a refrigeration system, it did not appear to be working. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the incident was a "horrific human tragedy."
"We're focused...on the facts, and holding the human strugglers [sic] who endangered vulnerable individual profits accountable...the fact of the matter is, the border is closed," said Jean-Pierre.
LISTEN: KJP reacts to the news of nearly 50 dead migrants at the border:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 28, 2022
"We're focused...on the facts, and holding the human strugglers who endangered vulnerable individual profits accountable...the fact of the matter is, the border is closed." pic.twitter.com/7T3MFwy4vF
The same day of the discovery of the trailer, illegal immigrants were seen crossing the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico, into Eagle Pass, Texas, as the Biden-inflicted border crisis continues to be an issue.
Reporting in the middle of the Rio Grande River as hundreds of migrants cross the river illegally into Eagle Pass , Texas , the majority are from Venezuela and followed for 35 miles to their crossing point in Piedras Negras @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/8q2wyihdDv
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) June 28, 2022
"I know what it is like to stand in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead migrants at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that suffocated to death in 170-degree heat in a steel box in total blackness. It changed me forever. This tragedy is worse," Tom Homan, former acting ICE director and Heritage Foundation visiting fellow, said in a statement.
"I have been warning for a year that a tragedy was going to occur because of the increase in truck smuggling, together with open borders, catch-and-release, and no chance of being deported, the most vulnerable people in the world will put themselves in the hands of criminal cartels to seek the promise that Biden and Mayorkas have made," he added.