Chris Hayes Presses Karine Jean-Pierre, Who Refuses to Answer Question About Biden’s Border Policy 

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about a report stating the Biden administration is considering detaining families who enter the U.S. illegally.

Currently, families that show up at the U.S. border with Mexico are allowed entry to the U.S. after being given an immigration court date. During the pandemic, the U.S. largely stopped detaining families.

On Friday’s All In, Hayes queried Jean-Pierre, who had no interest in answering.

“There were reports that the White House was considering – or the Department Homeland Security was considering – reintroducing the practice of family detention,” Hayes said, noting that this “was harshly criticized” by Biden when he was a presidential candidate. “Is it true that that’s being considered?”

Jean-Pierre replied that she was not going to respond to “rumors,” which she could have dispelled in that moment, but chose not to.

“So, what I want to be very clear here – and I’ve answered this question as you know, Chris, many times in the briefing room, and we as an administration have as well – we are not gonna certainly comment on rumors or conversations that are out there that people are reporting on,” she said. “Those are rumors. What we are going to promise is that we’re going to do this – we’re going to move forward with a, with this kind of systems, immigration system, that has been gutted, really, truly gutted by the last administration.”

After some additional filibustering from Jean-Pierre, Hayes pressed on.

“Just to follow up on that,” he said. “I think if I said, ‘Are you gonna do child separation again?’ you’d say, ‘No, we’re not gonna do child separation,’ right? I mean, so it just seems like you could say like, ‘We’re not gonna do family detention.’ But you’re not saying that, which is fine as far as it goes, but I just want to be clear.”

Jean-Pierre dodged the question again, falling back on her “rumors” refrain.

“I think what you’re asking me, Chris, is to speak to rumors that are out there,” she said. “And that is not something that we’re going to speak to any rumored conversation.”

She concluded her remarks by saying, “The moment that I talk about rumors or conversations that are out there, then it opens up a whole other conversation. So just wanna be mindful of that.”

Watch above via MSNBC.