A tiny intruder snuck through the White House fence on Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reports.
Secret Service was alerted that a toddler had squeezed through the five-and-a-half-inch gap between the fence posts on the northern Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House. An AP White House news editor spotted the incident and snapped a photo.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers walked across the lawn and “encountered a curious young visitor along the White House north fence line who briefly entered White House grounds.” Officers reunited the family and briefly questioned the parents before allowing them to go on with their day.
President Joe Biden was at the executive mansion at the time, according to his schedule, and the complex was briefly locked down.
The breach is one of the first for the National Park Service’s new 13-foot tall fence, which recently replaced an old six-foot, six-inch fence.
The White House complex has been illegally entered several times over the decades but instances seem to have increased during the Obama administration when several made it over the lower fence. In 2014, a man got over the fence and into the north doors with a three-inch knife before he was stopped. In 2017, a man roamed the grounds for more than 15 minutes before he was discovered and arrested.
Jordan Pascale