With me now, Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas.
Thank you so much for joining me
this morning.
You are getting regular updates
from the southern border.
What is the latest
with regard to border crossings?
And do you believe the surge has peaked
again over the past two days?
The United States border
patrol has experienced
a 50% drop in the number of encounters
versus what we were experiencing
earlier in the week
before Title 42 ended at midnight
on Thursday.
It is still early.
We are in day three.
But, you know,
we've been planning
for this transition for months and months
and we've been executing on our plan
and we will continue to do so.
So it's too early to say whether
the surge has peaked. It is.
It is too early.
But the numbers that we have experienced
over the past two days are markedly down
over what they were prior
to the end of Title 42.
What are the numbers? 5000.
So we have seen
I think approximately 6300
on Friday and about 4200 yesterday
by the United States Border Patrol,
and we saw over 10,000
before the end of Title 42
earlier last week.
Why do you think that is?
Because we have communicated very clearly
a vitally important message
to the individuals who are thinking
of arriving at our southern border.
There is a lawful,
safe and orderly way to arrive
in the United States.
That is through the pathways
that President Biden
has expanded in an unprecedented way.
And then there's a consequence
if one does not use
those lawful pathways.
And that consequence is removal
from the United States, a deportation,
and encountering a five year ban
on reentry and possible
criminal prosecution.
You say that you
at the Department of Homeland Security,
you have been preparing.
Not everybody agrees with you,
as I know you are aware,
not just Republicans,
even some Democrats,
even those
who represent parts of the border.
Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego
said, quote,
Federal agencies have had time to plan,
but their efforts have fallen short.
How do you respond to
him and some other Democrats
who say that you've fallen short?
I would respectfully disagree.
We have been planning for months
and months over a year and a half.
We have surged resources,
asylum officers, border patrol
agents, processing
coordinators to do the data entry work.
So our Border Patrol
agents can be out in the field.
We've expanded our holding capacity
in Border Patrol stations.
We've added beds
to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in our detention facilities.
We've increased our transportation
resources, the number of flights,
the removal of flights
with our foreign partners.
We're setting up regional processing
centers now.
It's extraordinary.
We've done over the past 18 months or so.
There's a debate in your party
about how restrictive
the United States should be towards
asylum claims.
What's your philosophy on that?
So as the asylum system
has been
and continues
to be a jewel of the United States,
we take great, great pride as a country
in this world
to provide humanitarian relief
for those who qualify.
But the landscape of migration
has changed dramatically over the past
ten plus years.
No longer are individuals
arriving at our border
of their own volition.
They are arriving in the hands
of smugglers that wreak such tragedy,
such trauma upon their lives.
The the cartels,
the smuggling organizations
control the land.
And so we have
not only a security imperative,
but a humanitarian responsibility
to cut those smugglers out.
And that's
precisely what we as
an administrator, has done.
We have attacked
the smuggling organizations
with our law enforcement authorities.
We've arrested more than 10,000 smugglers
President Biden
has led
the greatest expansion
of lawful
pathways ever
through family reunification programs,
through expedited
refugee processing,
through the regional processing centers
that we're now building.
But we have an obligation
to deliver consequences at our border
to not only manage our border,
but to cut the smugglers out.
You are
well aware the House of Representatives
passed a sweeping
border security bill this week.
I know there's a lot in there
that you do not like,
but there is funding
for more border agents,
which I know that you said
that you very much need
more technology at the border.
Have you spoken with House Speaker
McCarthy directly
about the possibility
of finding compromise here?
I have not.
We have been calling on Congress
to pass legislation
to fix what everyone agrees is a broken
immigration system.
We've been asking for that
for more than two decades.
On day
one of his presidency, President Biden
presented a legislative package.
The proposal
right now, what we are asking for
and we are really
we in need of desperately as a country
is immigration reform to fix the system,
not to dismantle it,
which is what this proposal
really provides.
That's been stuck
inside partizan gridlock for
15 years or so. I
want to ask about
something my next guest is going to say
this is Republican Congressman
Mark Green.
He's the chairman of the Homeland
Security Committee.
He has indicated he wants to impeach you
for the way
that you've handled the border crisis.
Are you worried
that that process is going to start
and how will you react?
Dana, I am focused on the work
in front of us.
Meeting the challenge
not only with respect
to the southern border,
but meeting the challenge of cyber
the cyber threat from cyber criminals
and adverse foreign nations as states.
I am focused on the increasing
severity and frequency
of extreme weather events.
I am focused on the adverse actions
of the People's Republic of China,
North Korea, Iran, Russia.
I am focused on the work
of the Department of Homeland Security.
I will continue to focus on that work
throughout my tenure.
Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas,
thank you so much
for joining me this morning.
Thank you, Dana.