President Joe Biden denied that his policies or his rhetoric about immigration is the cause of a surge of migrants at the southern border, instead attributing it to an annual increase of people making the trek to the United States during the winter months.

Biden joked that he wished it was true that migrants were rushing to come into the country because "I'm a decent man," but he pointed to a similar surge under former President Donald Trump in 2019, and questioned if that's "because he's a nice guy, doing good things on the border?"

"I like to think it's because I'm a nice guy, but it's not," Biden said.

When asked how far he was willing to go to make big changes on issues such as immigration, gun control and voting rights, Biden said he intends to make progress on all of them. His initial focus, when first elected, was to make progress on combatting COVID-19, getting people vaccinated and improving an economy devastated by the coronavirus.

"All I know is I've been hired to solve problems, not create division," Biden said.

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With a growing crisis on the southern border, two mass shootings in less than a week, and hundreds of Americans still dying every day from the novel coronavirus, reporters should have no shortage of questions when President Joe Biden steps to the lectern for the first press conference of his administration on Thursday afternoon.

But just how aggressively the 25 reporters in the room will question the 78-year-old Biden, who's generally received kids-gloves coverage in the mainstream press, remains to be seen.

Biden is expected to speak at 1:15 p.m. in front reporters from media outlets including CNN, CBS, Fox News, The New York Times and Politico. With the press conference coming on the 64^th day of his term, Biden has waited longer than any president in 100 years to face reporters.

In an appearance on Fox on Monday, former President Donald Trump predicted that Biden will receive "softballs" from a press that "protects him totally." And some on the left have suggested that reporters shouldn't push Biden particularly hard.

In a CNN op-ed, former Bill Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart suggested that reporters who had gotten used to "lies and misstatements and attacks" from Trump, need to adjust to Biden, "who tells the truth to the best of his ability." An overly aggressive press could do more harm to journalism than to Biden, Lockhart wrote.

The Washington Post's media reporter, Margaret Sullivan, similarly wrote that reporters will have to "recalibrate after the tumultuous, misinformation-filled Trump years to a president who is far less showy and, to date,' much more truthful."

Border Security and Immigration

Biden has started to get some pushback from reporters, particularly about his handling of immigration and the border, which has been flooded with migrants – including thousands of unaccompanied children — since he took office.

Biden, who promised more humane border policies, dismantled Trump-era measures designed to deter people from making the trek to the U.S.

Biden has denied reporters access to most over-crowded border facilities. On Wednesday, in the leadup to the press conference, the administration allowed a reporter and camera crew to enter one Texas facility. Annie Karni, The New York Time's White House correspondent, told Politico, "This issue about the press being allowed to document (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) facilities at the border is their first real live test of transparency."

Biden and his administration have denied that the border situation is a crisis, and have attempted to deflect blame to Trump. Reporters may question Biden on his proposal to legalize the approximately 11 million illegal immigrants living in the country.

Mass Shootings and Gun Control

In the wake of mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado that led to 18 people being killed this month, reporters will likely question Biden about his commitment to gun control. After the Colorado shooting on Monday, Biden urged Congress to "take commonsense steps that will save the lives in the future," including calling for universal background checks for gun buyers. The Colorado shooter bought his gun at a store and passed a background check.

Biden has also called for a re-instituted ban on so-called "assault rifles."

"This is not a partisan issue," he said, instead calling it "an American issue."

COVID-19 and Vaccines

Biden has said that responding to the COVID-19 crisis is his primary responsibility, and he likely will take something of a victory lap over his pledge to administer 100 million doses of vaccine in his first 100 days in office. In his CNN op-ed, Lockhart wrote that "Biden has picked the perfect time to meet the press. He has comfortably exceeded his campaign goal on vaccines and that deserves the pomp and circumstance of a full White House press conference."

But the Trump administration was already hitting the 1 million vaccinations a day mark before Biden took office. In the days after Biden's inauguration, staffers in his administration falsely claimed they inherited no vaccine distribution plan and had to "start from scratch."

Biden also could be asked about his efforts to reopen schools.

Spending and the Debt

Biden also is likely to tout the passage of the $1.9 million "American Rescue Plan," which critics say is less of a coronavirus rescue effort and more of a payoff to leftwing interest groups and funding for progressive wish lists.

The administration also is considering a series of new bills that require up to $3 trillion in new government spending to enhance the nation's infrastructure and fight climat change.

Health and Future Plans

Reporters could dare to ask Biden about his health, less than a week after the 78-year-old tripped three times while climbing the stairs to Air Force One, falling on his hands and knees at one point.

Biden is the oldest person to hold the office, and is older than four of his living predecessors, Clinton (74), George W. Bush (74), Barack Obama (59) and Trump (74).

One TV reporter who will be at the press conference told Politico that considering Biden's age, he could be asked about his plans to run for a second term.

"He is likely to punt," the anonymous reporter said. "But Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats across town would surely be eager to hear the true answer of when he will make a determination about 2024."