Washington – Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas As his tenure at the helm of the nation's immigration enforcement comes to an end, he said “irresponsible politics derailed a really great solution” when the bipartisan border deal fell apart earlier this year.
Mayorkas pointed out agreement on border package A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators in February reached an agreement after months of deliberations that would have marked the first comprehensive border security policy change in decades — and given the president far-reaching powers to crack down on illegal border crossings. but the bill was quickly dismissed by Republicans after President-elect Donald Trump expressed his opposition.
Following the failure of the law, the Biden administration imposed asylum restrictions that dramatically cut the flow of immigration. When asked about the timing amid criticism from Republicans that the Biden administration has the authority without Congress to take action at the border, Mayorkas acknowledged that he would have done more if the administration had known the border agreement would be torpedoed. Would have taken swift action.
Mayorkas said in an interview, “Looking back now, if we had known in 2020 that irresponsible politics had derailed what was clearly a commendable effort and a commendable outcome, we might have taken more swift executive action.” Do.” “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The comments come as border crossings have dwindled The lowest level of Biden administrationAfter reaching a record high a year ago.
The Homeland Security secretary said that before Mr. Biden came to office, “trend lines of migration” around the world were rising rapidly in 2018 and 2019, “and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.” Over time, the Biden administration has built capabilities that have allowed it to transport individuals and decompress areas in response to a surge in immigration, he said, adding that “we have seen an unprecedented level of enforcement throughout this administration.” “Working on it.”
“We are now removing or returning more individuals in three years than in the four years of the previous administration, and we are doing so not only in greater quantities, but because of interactions with other countries and in greater numbers than ever before. That's increasingly been the case in more countries,” Mayorkas said.