Nancy Pelosi on Border Crisis: The Message From Biden is ‘Stay Home, For Now’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi touted the humanitarian generosity of the United States amid a surge of migrants at the Southern Border in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday, but reiterated President Joe Biden’s message that people from Central America should stay home.

Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist asked Pelosi about migrants who say they believe it will be “easier to come to America and stay in America” under the Biden administration.

“One of the things that it’s important to watch is, some of these people, when they say it’s easier, if they have a well-founded fear of persecution, which is to seek asylum here, that hopefully will be easier,” Pelosi replied. “Because the Trump administration had no respect for the responsibility we have as a country, and other countries have as well to give shelter to those with a well-founded fear of persecution in their country. Many of these people are in grave, grave danger at home, and that’s why they risk coming here.”

Pelosi also weighed in on the surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S. Southern Border. There are currently more than 4,000 migrant children being held by Border police.

“Every minute that a child is separated from a parent, to me, is a crisis,” Pelosi said. “So we want this to move along expeditiously. But you have to have a good plan. And what they inherited was terrible.”

Pelosi touted the United States refugee resettlement program as “the crown jewel of American humanitarianism” — quoting testimony from the American Association of Evangelicals.

“So we have to make some distinctions about those who have a well-founded fear,” the Speaker said. “And we have to have the capacity at the border to do that, or to have that adjudicated in the country of origin.”

Geist again asked if the more humane messaging of the Biden administration is contributing to the surge at the border.

“Do you agree with some of the migrants who say, we are coming because Biden’s policies — or, at least, proposed policies — will make it easier for us to come to America and stay?” he asked. “In other words, we looked at what President Trump and his administration did at the border and said it’s not worth the long trip up, but now it is because Joe Biden will let us in.”

“It’s not a question of agree with,” Pelosi replied. “What I said was, if they have a well-founded fear of persecution, if they’re asylum seekers, yes, that it is agreeable. Apart from that, if they’re just coming, the message from Joe Biden is stay home for now.”

Pelosi has deemed the situation at the border a humanitarian crisis, though the Biden administration has resisted that label. The message that migrants should wait until the current surge has come under criticism from one notable politician: Rep. Vicente González (D-TX), who represents a border district in South Texas.

“‘Don’t come now, come later.’ Please, come on. That’s funny,” Gonzalez told Newsweek. “People at the border laugh at those kind of comments, it’s not realistic.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.