Former Department of Homeland Security officials are not holding back in their criticisms of current DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after he claimed there is no crisis at the border amid a surge of migrants crossing illegally and unaccompanied minors being brought across the border.
Mayorkas instead said there is a "challenge" at the border, with the White House echoing Mayorkas' description when pressed about the emerging issue.
"To use the White House as the platform to say the things [Mayorkas] said is unconscionable. I've been there, I've stood behind that exact podium that the DHS secretary had, and with that comes a tremendous amount of responsibility. With his lies, his misinformation, his political spin, he absolutely betrayed that responsibility and I believe he betrayed the citizens of this great country," former Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan told Townhall.
Morgan, who was at CBP during the Obama and Trump administrations, said the Biden administration's soft rhetoric about immigration and their "open border" policies has incentivized and rewarded illegal immigration. Morgan also took a shot at Mayorkas for pleading with migrants by saying they can come to the United States, they should just not come right now:
"It's an absolute laughingstock because the DHS secretary saying, 'Pretty please, don't come.' It's devoid of any reality of how it works. So he really thinks the cartels and the smugglers are going to go, 'Eh let's stop, let's take a little break for a little awhile because the DHS secretary asked us really nicely not to come yet.' I hope you print that. That's a freaking joke...It's ignorant, it's dangerous, it's reckless, and it's devoid of any understanding of how illegal immigration works and how the cartel and smuggling operations actually work."
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Chad Wolf, who was acting DHS Secretary under Trump, said Mayorkas calling it a "challenge" was "concerning" because the agency's actions all but indicate there is a crisis at the southwest border.
We need to be honest with the American people - particularly those in border states. We are in the midst of a crisis and it is just beginning. pic.twitter.com/v6AEVfgqf4
— Chad Wolf (@ChadFWolf) March 2, 2021
Ken Cuccinelli, who was the senior official performing the duties of the U.S. deputy secretary of Homeland Security under Trump, pointed to how Mayorkas can claim there is no crisis when the apprehension numbers are four times of what previous DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said he would consider to be a crisis.
"More denial of reality," Cuccinelli told Townhall. "When is it a crisis if not at about four times of what then-Sec. of DHS Jeh Johnson said was a crisis of 1,000 [apprehensions] per day? They have brought this on themselves and our country in a very irresponsible fashion."
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