Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday shrugged off responsibility for the growing migrant crisis and instead blasted Congress for failing to advance a border security package.
Mayorkas, 64 – who avoided impeachment by the House last week over the border standoff – acknowledged the ongoing crisis but stressed that the problem predates the Biden administration.
“Of course it is a crisis. And, we are not responsible for the broken system, and we do a huge amount in the system. But basically, Congress is the only one who can fix it,” Mayorkas told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
For years, Mayorkas has said publicly and before Congress that the border is “secure.” Last week, President Biden, 81, a fellow Democrat, cut him short and acknowledged an “unsecured border” before blaming his predecessor.
Mayorkas on Sunday dodged questions about the contradictions in their speeches.
Last week, efforts by House Republicans to impeach Mayorkas caught fire in part because Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) was brought into Congress from the hospital while recovering from stomach surgery to vote against it, in addition to the GOP defection to the Dem side.
“Sometimes when you count votes and people show up when they’re not expected to be in the building, it changes the equation,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) acknowledged afterward.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has sought to increase pressure on Congress to address the border crisis. AP
Republicans have hinted at plans to try impeachment again.
“It’s a baseless accusation,” Mayorkas responded to the GOP’s accusations against him. “That’s why I’m completely unfazed by them and focused on the work of the Department of Homeland Security.”
House Republicans have accused Mayorkas of a “deliberate and systemic refusal to obey the law” while presiding over the border crisis and a “breach of the public trust” for allegedly lying to Congress by saying the border was “secure” and that DHS had “operational control” of it.
In addition to impeachment efforts against Mayorkas falling by the wayside, a sweeping bipartisan border security reform package in the Senate collapsed last week.
The deal has been negotiated for about four months and is widely seen as a way to unlock Republican support for broader additional aid that includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies.
The Senate’s proposed border deal aims to end the practice of catch and release, according to its negotiators. AP
Now the Senate is considering about $95 billion more without the border provision.
“The system has not been improved for 30 years. A bipartisan group of senators [has] now presents us with the tools and resources we need … yet Congress kills it before reading it,” Mayorkas lamented.
Republican groups have urged Biden to take executive action to ease border crises similar to his predecessor, Donald Trump’s, such as reviving the “Remain in Mexico” policy — an arrangement in which asylum seekers stay in Mexico while their court cases play out in the US.
“We have taken executive action. We always review the options available to us, but they are always challenged in court,” replied Mayorkas.
“Mexico has publicly stated that it will not allow the re-implementation of ‘Stay in Mexico,'” he said.
Republicans like Texas Governor Greg Abbott have been furious with the Biden administration over its handling of the border. AP
Currently, there are more than 3 million pending asylum cases in US courts.
Since Biden was sworn in as president in January 2021, US Customs and Border Protection has experienced at least 7 million encounters near the southern border.
Mayorkas also weighed in on special counsel Robert Hur’s scathing report dropped last week in which he declined to indict the president over his retention of classified documents while concluding a jury would likely see him as “a well-intentioned old man with a failing memory.”
In his report, Hur documented several instances where Biden’s memory lapses during their more than 5-hour interview last year.
Mayorkas criticized Hur for making “inappropriate, unnecessary and inaccurate personal remarks” about the president in his 388-page report.
The US Border Patrol has faced record levels of encounters in recent weeks. AP
“The hardest part about meeting with President Biden is getting ready because he’s sharp, deeply researched and detail-oriented,” Mayorkas responded.
Some Republicans like Rep. Claudia Tenney latched onto Hur’s report and suggested that Biden’s cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office on the grounds that he is incapacitated.
Mayorkas, a member of the president’s cabinet, was asked if the conversation had taken place.
“Not at all,” said Mayorkas.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
