Act Daily News
—
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed the finger again at Congress to repair the nation’s damaged immigration system and maintained that he is not going to resign from his publish in an new interview with Act Daily News’s Chris Wallace.
House Republicans, who’ve been fierce critics of President Joe Biden’s immigration insurance policies, have been transferring to construct a case in opposition to Mayorkas as they contemplate launching uncommon impeachment proceedings in opposition to a Cabinet secretary.
“I’m not going to resign,” Mayorkas advised Act Daily News’s Chris Wallace on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which is now streaming on HBOMax and airs Sunday evening at 7 p.m. ET on Act Daily News.
“I call upon Congress – as the president has done, as this nation has done – to actually fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades,” he added.
Republican lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas’ claims of getting operational management of the border are unfounded and that the document arrests mark a dereliction of obligation – two themes which have come up repeatedly in congressional hearings and have been cited as purpose to question the secretary.
Ahead of potential proceedings, the Department of Homeland Security is bringing on a non-public legislation agency to assist with potential impeachment proceedings in opposition to Mayorkas.
“I don’t have any intention of being uncooperative. I have complete confidence in the integrity of our decision making,” Mayorkas advised Wallace.
Over latest weeks, key committee chairman already held two congressional hearings over the Biden administration’s dealing with of the US-Mexico border. Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee, which might have jurisdiction over an impeachment decision, held its first border-related listening to.
“These numbers make clear that the Biden administration does not have operational control of the border,” House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan mentioned throughout a February listening to. “Month after month after month, we have set records for migrants coming into the country and frankly, I think it’s intentional.”
Pressed by Wallace on what it means for the border to be safe and if it means individuals aren’t illegally crossing the border, Mayorkas mentioned: “Of course not. By that measure, the border has never been secure, right?”
Asked once more by what measure the border is safe, he mentioned: “There is not a common definition of that. If one looks at the statutory definition, the literal interpretation of the statutory language, if one person successfully evades law enforcement at the border, then we have breached the security of the border.”
He added: “What our goal is – to achieve operational control of the border, to do everything that we can to support our personnel with the resources, the technology, the policies that really advance the security of the border, and do not come at the cost of the values of our country. And I say that, I say that, because in the prior administration, policies were promulgated, were passed, that did not hew to the values that we hold dear.”
The Biden administration faces unprecedented motion throughout the Western Hemisphere that has contributed to a surge of migrants on the border, together with extra individuals from completely different international locations, equivalent to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The US is basically barred from deporting migrants to Cuba and Venezuela, presenting a novel set of challenges for DHS.
“The level of migration that has gripped our hemisphere is extraordinary,” Mayorkas mentioned, stressing that Congress must cross reform to repair the immigration system, which Republicans and Democrats agree is damaged.
US border authorities encountered migrants greater than 2.3 million occasions alongside the US-Mexico border in fiscal yr 2022, in accordance with US Customs and Border Protection information. Of these, greater than 1 million migrants had been turned away on the border.
In early January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to incorporate Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans to offer a authorized pathway for them to enter the US as a substitute of crossing the border. The administration additionally made these nationalities eligible for Title 42, that means they will now be turned away by authorities in the event that they don’t apply for this system.
Since then, there was a major decline in migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela crossing the US-Mexico border unlawfully, in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security, which attributed the drop to new border measures.
Source: www.cnn.com