Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would not visit the southern border during his trip to Arizona, despite an ongoing migration crisis.

The president spoke briefly with reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Arizona to promote new investments in semiconductor chip manufacturing.

When asked why he was going to a border state without visiting the border, Biden replied, “Because there are more important things going on.”

The president has stubbornly resisted visiting the border as the migration crisis continues to cripple border communities faced by floods of migrants entering the country and claiming asylum.

Biden has never visited the Southern border, despite signaling last year that he would do so.

“At some point, I will,” he told reporters in March 2021 when asked if he would ever visit the Southern border.

In October 2021, Biden admitted that he “should” visit the border.

“I’ve been there before and I haven’t — I mean, I know it well. I guess I should go down,” he said during a town hall meeting with CNN, complaining that “I haven’t had a whole hell of lot of time to get down.”

Last week, however, the White House laughed off an invitation from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to Biden to visit the border, accusing Republicans of contributing to a “political stunt.”

On Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called for Republicans concerned about border security to negotiate with Biden on providing amnesty to illegal immigrants through his proposed immigration legislation.

“If they truly want to deal with the border, then they would stop doing political stunts and actually work with us on the plan that we have put forward, which they are not,” she said.