How bad is the southern border immigration crisis for the Biden administration?
Apparently bad enough for Biden’s border forces to shut out photojournalists and force them to take pictures of the U.S. border from Mexico.
Meanwhile, the administration is allowing migrants to stream in, out of view of media.
Getty Images photojournalist John Moore tweeted with photos of the U.S. border from Mexico:
“I respectfully ask US Customs and Border Protection to stop blocking media access to their border operations. I have photographed CBP under Bush, Obama and Trump but now – zero access is granted to media. These long lens images taken from the Mexican side.”
The longtime journalist who won the World Press Photo Foundation’s 2019 photo of the year – a migrant toddler crying while her mother is detained – called this media blackout unprecedented, tweeting:
“There’s no modern precedent for a full physical ban on media access to CBP border operations. 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.”
Multiple outlets have reported on the contrast between the Trump administration – which wanted to highlight the mass migration crisis at the border – and the Biden administration’s downplaying it as a mere challenge and refusing to use the term “crisis,” while locking out photographers and cameras.
Moore added via Tweet:
“Photographing Border Patrol agents and immigrant encounters can and has been done respectfully without interfering with operations. Regardless, @cbp public affairs exists to work with media.”
Using the coronavirus pandemic is a weak excuse, Moore argued in an ensuing tweet:
“And Pandemic restrictions are not a valid excuse to block physical media access, especially to operations that are outside. There are easy alternative options to media ride-alongs.”
Moore acknowledged the politicization of the border crisis, but noted the important work of journalists at the border, tweeting:
“Showing the difficult and important work of @cbp agents in the field, while also photographing immigrants in a dignified way are not mutually exclusive endeavors. Transparency is key, even in a politicized environment.”
Having to take photos from Mexico instead of the U.S. was noteworthy, Moore tweeted:
“The photographs in this tweet string were taken with a telephoto lens from across the border in Mexico. Until now, US photojournalists haven’t needed to stand in another country to photograph what’s happening – in the United States.”
Mexico is not shutting out the media in the same way the Biden administration is, restricting access of the allegedly free press, Moore lamented:
“The vast majority of river crossings by asylum seekers happen on federal land in south Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. The federal govt. controls access to those areas. The Border Patrol has been removing journalists who enter, including recently myself, CBS, others.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has been frequently asked about the lack of media access at the border, having called it a privacy issue with regard to migrant children detention facilities.
But after slipping and referring to the border “crisis,” she was asked if the administration now considers the “challenge” at the border a “crisis”? She deadpanned: “Nope. Nope.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: Newmax
