Biden implored migrants not to travel north as his new administration struggles to manage the influx at the southern border, particularly of unaccompanied minors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, for instance, has helped to turn the Dallas Convention Center into an immigration facility that can house up to 3,000 migrant teenagers.

“Yes, I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over… Don’t leave your town or city or community,” Biden told ABC News in an interview aired Tuesday.

Biden also didn’t take responsibility for the surge, despite Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier Tuesday predicting the U.S. was “on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.” He did concede the uptick was worse than those experienced in both 2019 and 2020.