Biden's migrant blackout

The descriptions sound bad — and they are bad. But in the world of media and politics, what stirs popular outrage in a story like this is pictures. It’s one thing for Americans to read descriptions of young people in jail cells. It’s another thing for Americans to see photos and videos of young people in jail cells. Remember the uproar over the Trump administration’s so-called “kids in cages” policy? It was stoked by media organizations showing pictures of what was happening.

So now, the Biden White House appears to be determined not to let Americans see what is going on. The administration has not given the press access to the detention facilities. Nor has it given access to the nonprofit lawyers mentioned above, even though the administration is legally required to do so. On the migrant issue, there is a Biden Blackout.

Making things even worse, the Biden White House insists that it “supports transparency” in its handling of the migrant crisis. At Monday’s briefing, a reporter asked spokeswoman Jen Psaki, “What is the status of allowing cameras into some of these facilities? We’ve been asking for weeks about whether or not the press will ever get a chance to see either the Border Patrol or the HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] facilities.”