across the country.
For the pbs newshour, I am Lisa
Desjardins.
Amna: For more on us immigration
policy, I spoke earlier today
with secretary of state Antony
blinken.
Welcome to the newshour, thank
you for joining us.
>> Good to be with you.
Amna: We are speaking at a time
of unprecedented global
migration.
As you well know, our southern
border is no exception.
As title 42 goes into ending
tonight, we're already seeing,
what, some 8000 or 9000
apprehensions a day at the U.S.
Southern border.
Officials are saying some 65,000
people are waiting in northern
Mexico to try and cross after it
ends.
We are facing in a president
test of our system.
What are you worried about at
this moment in time?
>> Well, first, it is important
to emphasize that this is
unprecedented because we are
facing around the world more
people on the move than at any
time in recorded history,
displaced from their homes for
one reason or another.
And that is powerfully true in
our own atmosphere and that
brings us in our direction.
We have been working on this
from day one of this
administration, and the most
important thing is this.
It is getting a shared sense of
responsibility across his
hemisphere for the challenge of
migration, and we have been
doing that.
President Biden has been leading
that effort.
We brought countries together in
Los Angeles at the summit of the
Americas, and out of that came
the Los Angeles declaration on
migration, where countries are
stepping up to do things that
they weren't doing before to
help all of us get control of
migration in the hemisphere.
Amna: Those are long-term
solutions, Mr. Secretary.
What are you worried about in
the medium-term?
>> Some are long-term, but of
course, many things are
immediate.
For example, just in recent
months, we struck an agreement
with Mexico that's very
important, where Mexico has
agreed to take a 1000 people a
day who come, who come across
and don't have lawful status in
the United States, from four
countries, from Venezuela, from
Nicaragua, from Haiti, and from
Cuba.
At the same time, we are working
closely with other countries to
be able to repatriate people who
come across unlawfully sending
them back on flights, and we are
also sending the message out
that, no, the border is not
open, and on the contrary, do
not put yourself in the hands of
smugglers.
Do not pay these exorbitant
costs that come with trying to
get here.
Do not risk their lives, because
it will not work.
And finally, one of the new
programs that we are instituting
and that you will see come to
fruition in the weeks ahead are
something we are calling
regional processing centers.
This gives people an opportunity
in their own countries to make a
determination about whether they
are eligible legally to come to
the United States by one of the
various lawful pathways that
exist.
For example, to get a work Visa.
To be reunited with family, to
qualify as a refugee, and making
that accessible.
Making that available to people
gives them an opportunity in
their own countries to find out
if they can come to the united
States lawfully, instead, again,
of making the incredibly after
this journey all the way to our
border with all of the dangers
and costs that come with that
only to find out they cannot get
in.
Amna: There is a new transit
rule and asylum rule going into
effect.
I went to ask you about it.
Basically bars anyone from
seeking asylum here in the
United States if they didn't
first seek protection in another
country that they pass through
on their way to the U.S. As you
know, immigration advocates say
this basically mirrors a rule
that the trump administration
put into place that was later
struck down in the courts.
But I am curious from your
perspective, what is the safe
third option for people making
this dangerous trek where you
would have them seek protection
first before they get to the
U.S.?
>> Well, this does go to the
shared sense of responsibility
that we're trying to build
across the hemisphere.
And to the extent someone is
going through a country where
there's an opportunity to seek
asylum and they haven't avail
themselves of that opportunity,
we're saying you need to do
that, but we're not just saying
that.
We are also working with these
countries to strengthen their
own silent systems -- asylum
systems, to strengthen the
protections that they offered to
migrants as well as to
strengthen opportunity, so that
people who may choose to avail
themselves of asylum and a third
country have something to go to
and something to look toward.
Amna: To that point, Mr.
Secretary, pardon the
interruption, I know your time
is limited but what countries
would you consider a safe
option?
>> I don't want to get into it
today, I don't want to get into
a list of countries, but I can
say for example with Mexico
we're working very closely and
, we have been for some period
of time in helping them to to
strengthen their own asylum
system in Mexico, for example.
Right now, there are in parts of
the country labor shortages that
they're interested in meeting
through migration done lawfully.
So if we can support that, that
may be one opportunity for
people.
Amna: Mr. Secretary, with all
due respect to you, that
Mexico's murder rate is four
times that of the United States.
Your own state department has
issued several travel warnings.
Do not travel warnings for a
number of states across Mexico
for U.S. Citizens.
Why would that be considered a
safe option for anyone making
that journey?
>> It's, as you know, a vast
country with big differences
depending on where you are in
the country.
So a lot depends on what part of
the country we're talking about.
But I cite that simply as one
example of work that we're doing
with countries across the
hemisphere to strengthen the
protections that they offer, to
strengthen their own asylum
systems, as well as to cooperate
with us as necessary on
repatriations, even as we are
working to expand legal pathways
to this country.
Amna: I would like to ask you
about Ukraine.
Ukrainian president up a lot of
your zelenskyy said the west had
not delivered enough armored
vehicles for them to launch a
counteroffensive.
He said they do have in place
what they need to continue to be
successful in regaining
territory.
So how should we understand
that?
>> Well, from day one and even
before day one, we've been
working overtime to try to make
sure that Ukraine had in its
hands what it needs to defend
itself against the Russian
aggression.
First, when we saw it coming, we
wanted to make sure that they
had what they needed if it came.
And indeed with the stingers and
javelins that we provided going
back to before the Russian
aggression, they were able to
repel the efforts to take kiev
and take the whole country at
every step along the way.
Ever since we've worked with now
more than 50 countries to
adjust, to adapt, depending on
the nature of the fight, where
it was, what was needed to make
sure that, again, they had what
they needed.
And it is a process.
And we're working literally
every single day with the
Ukrainians and with this
coalition of countries to make
sure they have support.
If there are gaps, if there are
shortages, they'll tell us and
we will make every effort to
make good on them.
Amna: They have been asking and
requesting these longer range
missiles from the us up to 185
mile range.
The us has so far refused those
requests, but British officials
say they will send to Ukraine
missiles with 180 mile range,
which is basically the same.
What's the us argument right now
for refusing to send those to
Ukraine?
>> That is precisely why we have
a coalition of countries that
are supporting Ukraine.
Different countries will do
different things depending on
their own capacities, depending
on their own technology,
depending on what makes the most
sense.
So we've provided some things
uniquely to Ukraine through this
process.
Other countries may do things
different than what we're doing.
The question is, does the the
whole thing add up to what
Ukraine needs?
And we are determined that it do
so.
Amna: So you support the British
decision then, there's N fear of
-- no fear of escalation with
the British providing those
longer-range missiles?
>> All of this, again, is done
through a coalition and
coordinate a process.
Secretary Austin's been leading
that for for many months now.
And as I said before, it's not
only the weapons systems, it's
the training, because you can
give someone a great weapon
system if they don't know how to
use it, it's not going to do
them much good.
It's the maintenance, because if
they don't know how to maintain
it, you give it to them and it
falls apart in seven days, it is
not going to do you much good.
And it is understanding how to
use all of these things in a
cohesive and effective plan.
Combined arms, all of these
things are what we have been
working on, and we are doing it
in a coordinated way.
Different countries take
different pieces of this.
Amna: As you know, president
zelenskyy criticized the us
after those intelligence leaks
by the junior airman Jacques
Teixeira in Massachusetts,
calling them not beneficial to
the reputation of the united
States.
Do you believe that the U.S.
Intelligence community fully has
its arms around the extent of
that leak?
>> We are as always, working
overtime to make sure that we
are protecting the information
that needs to be protected,
including in this instance and
also more broadly.
And we have had conversations
with partners around the world
about this, making clear to them
the importance that we attach to
it.
I have got to say, in the many,
many meetings, engagements,
trips I have been on since this
incident, it has almost never
come up from one of our
partners.
In fact, I brought it up just to
reassure people that we are
intensely focused on this and
making sure that the information
that we have is protected.
But the other side of the
equation is this.
Allies and partners around the
world know the extraordinary
value of the information that we
are able to develop.
They know how important it has
been to them, and they want to
make sure that we preserve it.
Amna: That is is us secretary of
state Antony blinken joining us
tonight.
Secretary blinken, thank.
Please come back soon.
>> Thanks, good to be with you.