President Joe Biden said Tuesday that there are "more important things" than the southern border as illegal crossings skyrocket and Border Patrol agents say they're "overworked."
Fielding a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy while boarding Marine One, Biden said he decided to skip a border visit during his recent trip to Arizona.
Biden's decision came as a bipartisan group of congressmen assembled to address growing stresses on Customs and Border Protection, including the staggering suicide rate. Fourteen agents have taken their lives this year; 149 died by suicide from 2007 to 2022.
"To have four Republicans and four Democrats willing to stand here in the rain and have a conversation [on border patrol suicides] is light years ahead of anything else that is happening in this place," said Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas.
"There's no doubt that what is happening at the border is impacting our agents. If we as lawmakers here in D.C., can't come together on preventing people from killing themselves, what can we come to?"
Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, who is married to a border agent, said patrol members feel abandoned by the Biden administration, especially after his recent comments.
"He's on record stating that there are other more important things. That's a ridiculous statement, and it's a disrespect to our border patrol agents," Flores said. "I'm asking him to come to South Texas to come and see what our Border Patrol agents are going through."
According to National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, agents feel social stigma for obtaining mental health therapy, and fear superiors will revoke their law-enforcement authority.
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