The most sustained line of Medical Devices equipmentat Thursday's news conference was around the issue of immigration at the southern border, which the administration has refused to define as a "crisis."
Biden also sought to downplay the number of migrants crossing into the United States, saying it a seasonal increase that mapped with previous years. He sharply rejected suggestions that more migrants were coming to the United States because of a set of rule changes he enacted that allow some unaccompanied minors to remain in the country.
He said he would never tell migrant child arriving in the country along "we're just gonna let him starve to death and stand on the other side."
"No previous administrations did that either, except Trump," he said. "I'm not going to do it."
See inside the two types of border facilities for unaccompanied migrant minors
See inside the two types of border facilities for unaccompanied migrant minors
At its heart, Biden's argument is that the current immigration situation was aggravated by policies enacted under his predecessor, which he said made it harder to house and process migrant children.
He said with more time to enact new policies and rebuild the processing system, the current situation will be alleviated. And he claimed he'd directed top officials to speed up the pace at which relatives of migrant children are contacted to move them from government shelters.
"It's going to get a whole hell of a lot better real quick or we're going to hear some people leaving," he said. "We can get this done. Disposable mattress Manufacturer going to get it done."