U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden administration’s handling of the border situation in a series of television interviews on Sunday (March 21). In response, former U.S. President Donald Trump spoke out again, criticizing the new administration’s border policies as having “caused death and human tragedy.
Mayorkas appeared on several programs on several major news networks Sunday to answer questions about the rapidly erupting border crisis. The current influx of unaccompanied children has reached a new high since the last crisis in 2019. Mayorkas also tried to shift the blame for the crisis onto the Trump Administration. In an interview with NBC, he said the previous administration “undermined the orderly, humane and effective way in which children should be allowed to make claims in their own country under U.S. law.”
Later Sunday, Trump responded to Mayorkas’ comments in a statement sent via email. He again criticized the Biden Administration for turning “a national victory into a national disaster” just a few weeks after taking office. He urged Biden to “finish building the border wall immediately. The wall can be done in a matter of weeks,” he said. …… They should never stop it. They are causing death and human tragedy.”
In his statement, Trump added, “We are proud to hand over the most secure border in history to the Biden administration. And all they have to do is take this smooth-running system and just keep it on autopilot. But in its place, the Biden administration has turned a national victory into a national disaster in just a few weeks. Momentum is filling up like water overhead, and it’s pouring in fast.”
Trump described Mayorkas’ comments as “pathetic,” “ignorant” and “a national disgrace. At the same Time, Trump expressed concern that the current administration has reversed most of his immigration policies and restarted a “catch-and-release” policy.
Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols, or more commonly known as “stay in Mexico” agreements, are a strong reversal of the previous “catch and release” policy that allowed asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while awaiting court hearings. asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while awaiting court hearings. Now, Biden’s policy allows them to be released into the U.S. while they wait, and usually these people disappear into the community.
Trump wrote, “Even people of limited means like Mayorkas should understand that if ‘catch and release’ is offered to the world’s illegal aliens, then the whole world will come.”
Trump is known for his tough stance on immigration and his support for border agents and ICE personnel. He also called for an “immediate congressional investigation” amid reports that the Biden administration has limited the amount of information Border Patrol agents can provide. The disclosure that they could not share the crisis with the media amounted to a “gag order.
“Mayorkas has issued a ‘gag order’ on our nation’s brave border agents and ICE officers, and Congress should investigate this immediately. It is clear that they are covering up the truth to conceal a very bad situation. The only way to end the Biden border crisis is for them to admit their utter failure and adopt the Trump policies that have worked extremely well”, Trump said.
On Sunday, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mayorkas was asked by host Chuck Todd if he had issued a “gag order” on border enforcement officers. He denied the allegation.
Todd asked, “At this point, we don’t have access to these facilities, and we don’t have pictures to see what’s going on in the facilities. We can’t communicate with border agents, and all inquiries go through Washington. They have tight controls on sharing data and the local border patrol agents feel they can’t even talk to our local officers. Is there a gag order?”
Majokas responded, “That’s not there. That’s certainly wrong. Let’s be clear here. We are in the middle of a pandemic.”
Biden has vowed to change his predecessor’s immigration policies and has refused to call the influx of migrants at the border a “crisis. But the White House has acknowledged that the influx is a “big problem” and a “huge challenge” for the administration.
Mayorkas reiterated that Biden’s request to Central American migrants was to tell them “not to come over. The message is clear, don’t come,” he said in an interview with ABC on Sunday. The border is closed, the border is secure.”
But when Biden was asked why his warnings have not calmed the chaos at the border, Biden acknowledged that his administration may step up its efforts to get his latest message to illegal immigrants headed to the United States. Biden also said he would probably visit the border “at some point.
But the influx at the southwest border has been steadily increasing over the past few months. According to CBP, between October 2020 and January 2021, law enforcement officers faced 296,259 refugee influxes, up 79.6 percent from 164,932 in the same period last year.
And the number of Family units crossing the border illegally in February alone was up sharply at 19,246, including 9,457 unaccompanied minors. In comparison, there were 7,294 family units and 5,585 unaccompanied minors in January; in December 2020, 4,404 family units and 4,993 unaccompanied minors came to the border.
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