President Joe Biden finally called the border situation a 'crisis' on Saturday after playing his first round of golf since taking office.
He reiterated to reporters while coming off the course that his administration is committed to raising the refugee cap, claiming those who would address that issue were busy 'working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people' instead.
'We couldn't do two things at once,' Biden insisted. 'And now we are going to increase the number.'
Biden and top White House officials have refused to call the mass migration and overflowing border facilities a 'crisis,' instead dubbing it a 'problem' and a series of other synonyms.
The president hit the links Saturday at the Wilmington Country Club – just a 10-minute drive from his Greenville home.
Joining Biden for the round in a mostly sunny Delaware was Ron Olivere, the late Beau Biden's father-in-law, and Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti.
Some Republicans are questioning Biden's decision to play golf while still refusing to visit the southern border in the midst of a growing and prevailing migration crisis.
President Joe Biden hit the links on Saturday at the Wilmington Country Club
It was the President's first trip to the golf course since taking office in January
Some Republicans are questioning Biden's decision to play golf while still refusing to visit the southern border
The latest numbers show more than 21,000 unaccompanied minors are in U.S. custody
Biden rides a golf cart with his guest following a round of golf at Wilmington Country Club on Saturday
Late Beau Biden's father-in-law Ron Olivere joined Biden for golf during his Delaware trip
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was named border czar last month, has also come under intense fire for not yet taking a trip to the southern border.
Several GOP lawmakers traveled to the southern border over the last few weeks and toured holding and processing facilities. They shared pictures of unaccompanied minors being held in see-through pens where they are crammed together on the floor and given mylar blankets.
Harris revealed to reporters Wednesday she is planning a trip soon to Guatemala and Mexico, but said she won't be stopping at the border along the way.
The vice president said she has no plans to tour the overcrowded Texas migrant camps and the wall because Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is 'responsible' for the border.
She then held a Zoom meeting with 'experts' on northern triangle countries in her first intervention into the migrant crisis – 21 days after the White House put her in charge of the response to the migration crisis.
Republicans called the decision to forego a border visit 'despicable', claiming Harris is directly responsible for the horrific conditions faced by thousands of migrant children.
'The President has asked Secretary Mayorkas to address what is going on at the border,' she clarified to the press before kicking off the closed-door meeting. 'I have been asked to address the root causes.'
The most recent numbers show there are more than 21,000 unaccompanied minor migrants in federal government custody at various facilities along the border.
'Shame on them,' Republican House Whip Steve Scalise told DailyMail.com in reference to Biden and Harris, whose priorities appear to be anywhere other than the U.S.-Mexico border.
While coming off the golf course on Saturday afternoon, Biden jokingly told reporters, 'The course record is still in tact.'
Donald Trump was often berated for spending most weekends as president at one of his various golf clubs. In his first 100 days, he golfed 19 times, compared to Biden's so-far count of one on Day 87.
The former president is also golfing Saturday with his 15-year-old son Barron at his West Palm Beach golf club.
A Golf News Net tally indicates from January 20, 2017 through December 30, 2020, Trump played golf 308 times – either at one of his own grounds or at a course elsewhere.
In his first year as president, Trump fell just shy of 100 visits to a golf course.
Biden loves golf, but this is his first ever time hitting the links as president almost three months into his presidency.
According to former Republican House Speaker John Boehner's recent book, Biden claimed during a 2011 game to have only a seven handicap. He has been previously ranked as one of the best golfers in Washington.
According to a Golf Digest article from 2015, Biden had a 6.3 handicap at the time.
He only had two guests with him, which included the father of his son Beau's widow.
Biden loves golf, but this is his first ever time hitting the links as president almost three months into his presidency
Joe Biden's motorcade arrived at Wilmington Country Club on Saturday, April 17, 2021 for a round of golf
At the same time Biden played a round in Delaware on Saturday, 15-year-old Barron Trump joined his father, former President Donald Trump, on the golf course in Palm Beach, Florida
Hallie Biden, Olivere's daughter, was married to Beau from 2002 until his death in 2015. They had two children together, Robert Biden II, 15, and Natalie Biden, 16.
The president's embattled son Hunter began dating Hallie in 2016 – but the relationship ended by 2019.
Recently some details of their relationship emerged, including that Hallie once found Hunter's gun and dumped it in the trash of a high-end Delaware grocery store to stop him shooting himself.
Biden's game comes the day after he congratulated Hideki Matsuyama for winning The Masters and called him a 'Japanese boy' during his press conference with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
'I know how proud you are of the people of Japan ,' Biden tells the Japanese prime minister, 'and you've got a Japanese boy coming over here, and guess what, he won the Masters,' he said during the first visit by a foreign leader to the White House .
Matsuyama, 29, made history last weekend when he became the first Japanese-born male player to win a Major and the coveted Green Jacket at Augusta.
Biden's comment was a throwaway line at the end of his opening statement where he talked about the U.S. and Japan's strong relationship.
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