Mayorkas again refuses to call border surge a ‘crisis,’ says it would indicate ‘withdrawal from our mission’

Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas once more refused to name the continuing state of affairs on the southern border a “disaster” in an interview, claiming that admitting the state of affairs was a disaster would point out a “withdrawal from our mission.”

Mayorkas was requested throughout an interview with “60 Minutes” whether or not he considered the continuing state of affairs on the border — which noticed a document 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021 and greater than 2.3 million in FY 2022 — as a disaster.

“I view it as a big problem,” Mayorkas mentioned, echoing the reply he has given to that query on a number of events.

When requested why he wouldn’t use the phrase “disaster,” Mayorkas mentioned it was as a result of “I’ve large religion within the individuals of the Division of Homeland Safety.” 

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“And a disaster speaks to me of a withdrawal from our mission. And we’re solely placing extra pressure and extra vitality into it,” he mentioned.

Mayorkas was hammered concerning the state of affairs on the border throughout a number of hearings within the Senate and the Home this week, which noticed numerous Republicans saying he ought to give up or be fired.

These hearings noticed extra scrutiny on Mayorkas within the wake of a listening to final month that includes Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz — who mentioned that brokers didn’t have “operational management” of the border. 

“In 5 of these 9 southwest border sectors, we now have seen a rise in move and that has triggered a substantial pressure on our assets and actually has compelled the Border Patrol to maneuver so brokers and even migrants to a number of the different areas,” Ortiz mentioned in response to a query about whether or not the border is safe.

Ortiz additionally mentioned that he disagreed with the transfer to finish wall development and used the phrase “disaster” to explain the state of affairs.

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“The migration move represents challenges and in some areas, a disaster state of affairs,” he mentioned.

Mayorkas was requested particularly if he agreed with these remarks.

“I believe that we face a really severe problem in elements of the border,” he mentioned.

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Republicans have linked the dramatic enhance in migrants coming to the border to the Biden administration’s insurance policies. The administration has sought to develop authorized pathways, however has additionally ended numerous Trump-era border protections, stopped wall development, narrowed inside enforcement and expanded “catch-and-release.”

The administration has mentioned it’s searching for to advertise humane and orderly migration and surging assets to the border, whereas coping with a disaster that’s hemisphere-wide and fixing an asylum system that was gutted by the prior administration. It has additionally hit Republicans for refusing to conform to numerous border funding requests, together with an almost $5 billion request in December.

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Within the interview, Mayorkas once more argued that the surge was not being confronted solely by the U.S.

“The variety of individuals which are arriving at our border is at a unprecedented top. There isn’t any query about that. However that’s not distinctive to the southern border of the USA. There’s a large quantity of motion all through the hemisphere and, in truth, all through the world,” Mayorkas mentioned.