When told the story of a 9-year-old boy who walked alone from his home country of Honduras to the United State border, President Joe Biden said, “Astounding!”.
The 2,200 mile journey was conducted on foot and it’s not sure how long it took the boy, but his mom said he sent him by himself with another little boy.
“His mother said she sent her son to this country because she believes that you [Biden] are not deporting unaccompanied minors like her son,” a reporter told the President. “That’s why she sent him alone from Honduras.”
Biden paused for a few seconds and said he will not send an unaccompanied child at the border to be sent back to his country.
Despite the mom’s reasoning for sending her son, he said people are leaving Honduras because of earthquakes, floods, food, and gang violence.
“Kids are getting beat up and shot because of gang violence,” he said, yet the boy made the 2,200 mile journey intact.
“That mother did not sit around at the kitchen table and say, ‘I got a great idea, I’m going to make sure my 9-year-old on a thousand mile journey to the United States because I know Joe Biden is a nice guy’,” he said. “What a desperate act.”
Biden said the boy will eventually be put on a plane and flown back to his mom.