几周以来，拜登政府官员一直小心翼翼地避免使用“危机”一词来描述南部边境的移民潮。
但是白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基在周四的新闻发布会上确实这么做了。
Psaki是在回答一个关于美国计划将阿斯利康疫苗借给墨西哥以及美国是否对这些剂量提出了任何要求，包括在以下方面加强合作移居重要。
“除了任何疫苗剂量或对疫苗的要求之外，还有一些与疫苗剂量或要求无关的期望，即他们将成为处理边境危机的伙伴，”普萨基说。
后来，当另一名记者问她如何使用“危机”一词时，她立即转而使用“挑战”一词，这是白宫在反复被要求用最准确的方式来指代日益严重的问题时一直使用的词。
安德鲁·哈尔尼克/美联社
3月20日，白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基在白宫的新闻发布会上发言
“当你谈论如何进行美国和墨西哥之间的外交谈判时，你说‘边境危机’”，这名记者说。
“边境上的挑战，”普萨基迅速试图纠正他，否认她打算传达政府官方观点的任何变化。
过去几周，Psaki已经回答了几十个关于边境局势是否构成危机的问题。
随着越来越多的人越过边境，尤其是没有被拒绝的无人陪伴的未成年人，继续攀升，Psaki一直坚持不应该使用“危机”一词。
“听着，我认为我们不需要坐在这里给我们已经传达的信息贴上新的标签，这是一项挑战，我们传达的信息是总统的重中之重，也是我们的政策团队每天都在做的事情，”她3月9日说。
国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约尔卡斯坚决拒绝将这一情况称为“危机”周三在国会山作证。
“鉴于涌入边境的人数大幅上升和激增，称之为危机难道不公平吗?”众议院国土安全委员会的共和党高级成员、纽约众议员约翰·卡特科(John Katko)询问了马约尔卡斯。
“我不会花任何时间在我们使用的语言上，”梅尔卡斯说。"我正在花时间研究应对边境局势的行动。"
凯文·拉马克/路透社
国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约尔卡斯在新闻发布会上说
Mayorkas也试图用“挑战”这个词来描述移民的涌入。
当被问及他是否认为边境存在危机时，马约尔卡斯3月1日表示:“我认为答案是否定的。我认为我们正在管理的边境存在挑战，我们有专门的资源来管理它。”
他继续说:“国土安全部的男女工作人员一周七天、一天24小时工作，以确保我们在边境没有危机，我们应对挑战，因为挑战是严峻的。”。
白宫负责南部边境事务的协调员、前驻墨西哥大使罗伯塔·雅各布森也试图避免称之为移民人数不断增加危机。
3月10日，她说:“我不是想在这里装可爱，但我认为事实是，不管别人怎么说，我们都必须做我们该做的事情。”。
约翰·摩亚/盖蒂影像公司
无证移民跑过浅河格兰后，爬上了一个堤岸
政府努力减少对移民的担忧，与此同时众议院正在投票表决议案这将为某些无证农场工人以及所谓的“梦想家”或小时候来到美国的无证者提供获得公民身份的途径。参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔认为，给予无证移民合法身份的计划只会鼓励更多的非法入境者。
“众议院正在就移民法案进行投票。他们正在采取行动修复危机吗?不——他们正在实施一项大赦计划，该计划将为在某些行业工作的非法移民创造一条特殊的新入籍途径。所以，总结一下:政府不能承认他们造成了危机;他们还没有解决危机;众议院民主党人支持只会加剧错误激励的政策。
White House press secretary slips up, calls border migrant surge a 'crisis'
For weeks, Biden administration officials have scrupulously avoided using the word "crisis" to describe the migrant surge on the southern border.
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki did exactly that during a press briefing Thursday.
Psaki was responding to a question about U.S. plans to lend doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine toMexico, and whether the U.S. made any demands in return for those doses, including increased cooperation onimmigrationmatters.
"There have been expectations set outside of, unrelated to, any vaccine doses or requests for them, that they would be partners in dealing with the crisis on the border," Psaki said.
Later, when another reporter asked her about her use of the term "crisis," she immediately reverted to "challenges" -- the word the White House has been using when repeatedly pressed on the most accurate way to refer to the growing problem.
“When you were talking about how to go about diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Mexico, you said 'crisis on the border'," the reporter said.
"Challenges on the border," Psaki quickly tried to correct him, denying she intended to convey any change in the administration's official view.
Psaki has fielded dozens of questions on whether the situation at the border amounts to a crisis over the past few weeks.
As the number of people crossing the border, especiallyunaccompanied minors who are not turned away, has continued to climb, Psaki has been adamant that the word 'crisis' should not be used.
"Look, I don’t think we need to sit here and put new labels on what we have already conveyed is challenging, what we have conveyed is a top priority for the president, what our policy teams are working on every single day," she said March 9.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas steadfastly refused to refer to the situation as a "crisis" whiletestifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
"Given the tremendous rise and surge of individuals coming to the border, wouldn't it be fair to call it a crisis?" Rep. John Katko of New York, the ranking Republican member on the House Homeland Security Committee, asked Mayorkas.
"I'm not spending any time on the language that we use," Mayorkas said. "I am spending time on the operational response to the situation at the border."
Mayorkas has also tried to use the word "challenge" to describe an influx of migration.
Asked if he believes there is a crisis at the border, Mayorkas said on March 1, "I think the answer is no. I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing, and we have our resources dedicated to managing it."
"The men and women of the Department of Homeland Security are working around the clock, seven days a week, to ensure that we do not have a crisis at the border, that we manage the challenge, as acute is the challenge is," he continued.
The White House's coordinator for the southern border, and former ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, has also tried to avoid calling theincreasing number of migrantsa crisis.
"I’m not trying to be cute here, but I think the fact of the matter is, we have to do what we do regardless of what anybody calls the situation,” she said March 10.
The administration's effort to minimize concern about immigration comes as theHouse is voting on billsthat would provide pathways to citizenship for certain undocumented farmworkers as well as so-called "Dreamers," or undocumented who arrived in the U.S. as children. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested the plan to give legal status to undocumented immigrants would only encourage more illegal entries.
"The House is voting on immigration bills. Are they leaping into action to repair the crisis? No — they’re taking up an amnesty plan that would create a special new pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants working in certain industries. So, to summarize: The administration can’t admit they’ve caused a crisis; they have yet to address the crisis; and House Democrats are backing policies that would only exacerbate the wrong incentive," McConnell said Thursday.
