White House Rejects Blame For Deadly Migrant Smuggling Event In Texas, Says Border Is ‘Closed’

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rejected criticism from Republicans that the Biden administration is to blame for the human smuggling attempt that ended in tragedy Monday in Texas, saying that the border is “closed.”

At least 46 people are dead after an 18-wheeler smuggling migrants was found in San Antonio, Texas, on Monday night. It’s one of the deadliest smuggling incidents from the U.S.-Mexico border in recent decades, according to the Associated Press.

“The fact of the matter is, the border is closed, which is in part why you see people trying to make this dangerous journey using smuggling networks. Forty-six people died in the state of Texas…. Their families are still learning they lost loves ones… We’re focused on them, on the facts and on holding the human smugglers who endangered vulnerable individuals for profit accountable,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One Tuesday, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday that “[t]hese deaths are on Biden,” but Jean-Pierre dismissed blame for the “absolutely horrific and heartbreaking” event.

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Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting commissioner Mark Morgan and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said President Biden’s border policies are to blame for this situation.

“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,” Homan said in a statement shared with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“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.

Morgan said Biden hasn’t closed the border, asserting that he’s done so purposefully.

“They know full well the costs of their open-borders policies, but are pursuing them anyway—all for political benefit and pursuit of their personal ideology. It’s disgusting. How many more Americans and migrants have to die before we say enough is enough and demand the Biden administration take back our borders from the cartels?” Morgan said.

The White House didn’t respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.