Biden Tells Migrants 'Don't Come' as U.S. Faces Biggest Migrant Surge in 20 Years
U.S. President Joe Biden stops briefly to talk to the press as he walks toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on March 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Amid a surge of migrants at the southern border, President Joe Biden urged future migrants not to come to the United States.

Biden is already being criticized, especially by the Republicans, over the surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Due to Biden's "more lax" immigration stance, many migrants said they were motivated to go to the U.S. But in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Biden told migrants not to make the journey to the country.

"We're sending back people... I can say quite clearly, don't come over... don't leave your city, or town, or community," the President noted.

Biden earlier stressed the importance of immigration reform, easing several Trump-era policies meant to curb immigration, USA Today reported.

Biden and Migrants

Amid allegations of the border crisis, Biden emphasized in his interview with ABC News that there have also been surges at the border in 2019 and 2020. And when asked if the current border crisis is the worst, Biden said, "it could be."

He also tackled the issue that migrants were coming to the U.S. because they believe he would be lenient to those who cross the border.

"The idea that Joe Biden said, 'Come,' because I heard the other day that they're coming because they know I'm a nice guy. Here's the deal: They're not," Biden stressed.

The President added that migrants should not attempt to come to the U.S. while the administration is "in the process of getting set up." Fox News reported that Biden dismissed his critics, who accused him of encouraging migrants to enter the country.

According to Reuters, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the U.S. faces the most significant surge of migrants at its southern border in 20 years.

Mayorkas noted the number of Central Americans and Mexicans who have attempted to cross the border steadily increased since April 2020.

But Mayorkas defended Biden, arguing that poverty, violence, and corruption are the main reason why Mexicans and Central Americans are going to the U.S. He noted that migrants want to start a better life in the country.

Mayorkas admitted that they are "on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border" than they have in the last 20 years. But he noted that most single adults' arrivals are now being expelled under a Trump-era provision called Title 42, which cited the pandemic as the basis for the swift expulsion of asylum seekers.

Biden and Migrant Expulsion

An Al Jazeera report said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) encountered more than 100,441 migrants who tried to cross the border last month. It was the highest since 2019.

On the other hand, around 9,297 unaccompanied children were encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border in the same month, official figures showed.

The majority of people being sent back or expelled by the U.S. are made up of single adults. Authorities are not sending back children under six years old.

The number of migrant children trying to seek asylum is an issue that the Biden administration faces because facilities that can house them are limited. However, the White House still insists that the surge is not a crisis.

WATCH: Texas Governor Blames Biden for Migrant 'Surge' at Border - From Al Jazeera English