President Joe Biden addresses immigration, 200M vaccinations and running against former President Trump

WASHINGTON (KSNT) - President Joe Biden addressed the nation and the media Thursday afternoon to deliver his first presidential news conference in the East Wing of the White House.

In his first meeting with the media Biden addressed serious issues like immigration, the economy and the pandemic.

President Joe Biden says it's his “expectation” that he'll run for reelection in 2024.

Biden is 78 and already the oldest president to hold office. He would be 82 at the start of a second term.

Biden was asked at the first news conference of his presidency whether he thought he could face a rematch against Donald Trump.

Biden scoffed at the question. “Oh, I don’t even think about it,” Biden said. “I have no idea.”

When asked if he believed he would be running against former President Trump, Biden told reporters he couldn't say, he quipped he didn't know if there would still be a Republican Party in three years.

Biden addressed his promise to get 100 million shots into American's arms by his 100th day in office. He addressed his promise and reissued himself a challenge to get 200 million shots distributed by day 100.

The President said they got 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccinations into people's arms by day 58, 42 days ahead of schedule.

Subsequently, the White House announced it is dedicating another $10 billion in an attempt to drive up vaccination rates in low-income, minority and rural enclaves throughout the country. The Associated Press reported President Joe Biden’s administration, which will start distributing the money in April to nearly 1,400 centers across the country, said health centers can also use the funding to modify and improve infrastructure and add mobile units.

Biden's goal seems ambitious, but it actually amounts to a continuation of the country's existing pace of vaccinations through the end of month. The U.S. is now averaging about 2.5 million doses per day.

A rate even greater than that is possible. Over the next month, two of the bottlenecks to getting Americans vaccinated are set to be lifted. The U.S. supply of vaccines is on track to increase and states are lifting eligibility requirements for people to get the shots.

"There are still too many Americans out of work," Biden said. "But I can say help is on the way."

On immigration Biden told reporters, "It happens every single year."

"They are coming because it's the time of the year they can come without dying, because of the heat," Biden said when asked about the increases of refugees at the southern border of the United States.

Biden told reporters "thousands, tens of thousands have been sent back, sent home."

He cited the "dismantling" of the accommodations for immigrants under the Trump administration.

"It's going to take time," Biden told reporters. "The only people we are not going to let sit there, on their own, is children."

President Joe Biden says his administration is working on getting beds and other facilities up and running so children held in Border Patrol custody can be transferred.

Biden says in his first news conference that most of the migrants who are coming to the U.S.-Mexico border are being sent back, except for children. He says his administration is working to ease delays so children can be released from government custody to sponsors.

Biden says when parents send their children alone across the border, it's a “desperate act.” The president says he wants to help change the conditions in Central American countries when the migrants are coming from, but he says there's no easy answer.

Biden is pushing back against the idea there's a crush of migrants coming to the border.

"I'm a fairly practical guy, I want to get things done, we've got to get to the place where I get things done," Biden said when asked about the filibuster.

When asked if he would like to see unaccompanied children sent back to their country of origin Biden said he would like underage immigrants to be "safely" be housed while they work through the process.

"We will leave, the question is when we leave," Biden said about Afghanistan, although he eluded that a previous arrangement with Trump that saw America depart by 2021 may not happen.

"This is gigantic, it can not be sustained, and I will do everything in my power to keep this from becoming law," Biden said when asked about Republican efforts to restrict voting around the country.

Before ending the conference Biden said he was willing to work with any Republican who wants to make the situation better.