Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a latest interview rejected the notion that President Joe Biden’s early immigration strikes precipitated a surge in migrants on the US-Mexico border.
Whereas talking with The New York Instances, Mayorkas, who has repeatedly clashed with congressional Republicans throughout his tenure, mentioned the Biden administration’s want to pivot away from lots of President Donald Trump’s most draconian immigration insurance policies did not trigger a humanitarian disaster on the border.
“I believe that individuals go away their properties due to the circumstances beneath which they endure,” Mayorkas advised the Instances.
“I’ll say that if one needs to talk of rhetoric and the message it sends, what do you assume the message is when a politician stands up and says the border is open, which it is not?” he continued.
When Mayorkas was requested if he was referring to Trump and lots of the former president’s most ardent conservative allies, he concurred.
“Appropriate. And that’s each inaccurate and dangerous,” he mentioned. “These phrases are then taken by the smugglers that exploit the susceptible. They know tips on how to attain determined individuals, and so they use these phrases as fact to drive human habits.”
Since Biden has been in workplace, Mayorkas has turn out to be the face of Republican frustrations over the president’s immigration insurance policies, with scores of GOP lawmakers calling for the US-Mexico border to be shut down because the nation in recent times has struggled with a surge in unlawful crossings.
In December 2023, unlawful border crossings from Mexico resulted in a file month-to-month excessive of almost 250,000 arrests, in accordance with the US Border Patrol. The determine represented a 13% improve from the roughly 222,000 arrests made in December 2022.
The unlawful border crossings have turn out to be a serious political vulnerability for Biden, who has signed on to a bipartisan border invoice that would go the Senate however would face stiff resistance from Home Republicans. Trump, who has made immigration a centerpiece of his 2024 marketing campaign, has inspired Republicans to scuttle the bipartisan effort.
Home Republicans this week dramatically escalated their marketing campaign to oust Mayorkas from his place. On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled Homeland Safety Committee voted to ship impeachment articles to the Home for a vote, castigating the secretary for what they’ve lengthy alleged is his refusal to implement present immigration legal guidelines.
Mayorkas slammed the impeachment effort as “baseless” and rejected what he mentioned was a political impetus behind the impeachment vote.
“I’m not engaged in politics,” he advised the Instances. “I am engaged within the work of the Division of Homeland Safety.”
