Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas refuses to take responsibility for the country's ongoing border crisis, adding that the Biden Administration doesn't "bear responsibility for a broken system."
During an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Mayorkas blamed the nation's damning immigration crisis on Congress not passing legislation despite him repeatedly claiming the border is secure.
NBC host Kristen Welker asked Mayorkas if he takes any responsibility for tens of millions of illegal migrants crossing the border. In response, the Biden official agreed it was a crisis but refused to take accountability for his administration's reckless open border policies.
"There is no question that we have a broken system," he said. "There is no question that we have a challenge, a crisis at the border. And there is no question that Congress needs to fix it. And we're doing everything we can within that broken system, short of legislation, to address what is not just a challenge for the United States but one throughout our region."
In April 2023, Mayorkas said the border was secured during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing. Since then, 1.5 million illegal aliens have crossed the border into the U.S. In less than a year, Border Patrol agents made 1,589,148 migrant encounters at the southern border despite the Biden Administration claiming there is no crisis. This is 300,000 more than the combined total number of encounters for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 when former President Trump was in office.
During the hearing, Mayorkas was asked if the U.S.-Mexico border was secure. The Biden official said the answer was not black and white but believed that "the border is secure."
Welker asked why Mayorkas believes he deserves to keep his job, considering that more than 85 percent of illegal migrants who have crossed the border are being released into the U.S. as they await their court dates— which, for most, are years into the future.
"The data that you cite is a powerful example of why we need legislation to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system," Mayorkas said. "Before the last three years, that case backlog, which is about 3 million cases, has been growing year over year over year. The time between when we encounter an individual at the border and the time of final adjudication of an asylum claim case has been years, five to seven years, for years and years."
Mayorkas claimed the border has been broken for 30 years, once again blaming Congress for the broken border.
"A bipartisan group of senators has now presented us with the tools and resources we need – a bipartisan group. And yet, Congress killed it before even reading it," he said, referring to when the Senate failed to pass a $118 billion supplemental spending agreement that included funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. It also contained a border security package that drew criticism from several Republicans.
He also claimed President Joe Biden has tried to secure the border numerous times but is always "challenged in court." He said the administration has taken "tremendous" steps to stem the flow of migrants, adding that it's not like the president has "done nothing."
Join the conversation as a VIP Member