Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of homeland security, urged Congress to address the border crisis and responded to criticism of President Joe Biden’s latest executive move limiting asylum on Sunday.
It’s early, but there are encouraging indicators. On ABC’s “This Week,” Mayorkas praised the exceptional work of government employees in executing a significant change to operations along the southern border. He also noted that the new policy, which was announced last Tuesday, is still in its early stages of implementation.
This executive order, which prohibits, with few exceptions, undocumented migrants from requesting asylum once a daily threshold is met, was the most significant action taken by the current administration regarding the southern border of the United States, an issue that former president Trump had prioritized in his 2024 campaign. However, Biden’s immigration stance is more fragile than ever before in the run-up to the November election, as both conservatives and liberals have attacked the new policy.
One Republican governor, Greg Abbott of Texas, accused Biden on Sunday of “gaslighting” the American people. Abbott stated on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that “people need to understand that what Biden has done, he’s not doing anything to actually secure the border, in fact it’s the opposite.”
Nothing that Biden does when he halts the asylum procedure prohibits anybody else from reaching the border. No system of checks and balances is currently operational.
It is too soon to tell what effect the policy will have, even though the frequency of interactions across ports of entry is still high. Restricting asylum would, according to Mayorkas, make fewer individuals attempt to cross the border.
Mayorkas told Martha Raddatz of ABC that their goal is to convince people to use the legal channels rather than risk being taken advantage of by smugglers by changing their risk assessment before they leave their home countries.
The new policy would have been in place for the past three years at the very least, according to data analysis done by AWN, due to an increase in encounters with migrants.
When asked why the government did not take faster action after the bipartisan immigration accord collapsed in February, Mayorkas cited the measure’s failure to pass last month on its second try due to Republican resistance and Democratic divisions.
Despite initial setbacks, we continued working toward the bipartisan compromise. “We developed this and have implemented it after it was rejected a second time,” he explained. “And we’re just getting started. Let’s not downplay how big of a deal this transfer and making it operational are. In addition, we need the support of other nations, which we have already attained.
However, Mayorkas urged Congress to take more action once more. We require a response from Congress. Additional staff cannot be authorized for the Departments of Homeland Security, State, and Justice. Legislation must be passed by Congress.
Despite intense criticism from Trump and other prominent Republicans in the House, the Senate Republicans were able to obstruct a bipartisan agreement on foreign aid and a big border compromise in February. In May, Democrats brought the border measure back to life in an attempt to pressure Republicans and change the conversation around border security. However, the bill ultimately exposed party divisions and threatened to derail Democrats’ messaging campaign.
This schism has been further highlighted by Biden’s latest proposal, which has drawn comparisons to the actions of the Trump administration and has seen some progressives speak out against it.
One of Biden’s closest allies and reelection campaign co-chairmen, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, sought to differentiate the policies of the present and the past administrations.
Ex-President Trump sought to impose a Muslim ban, which would have barred anyone from entering the US on the basis of their religion alone. Additionally, he was cruel. On Sunday’s CBS “Face the Nation” he blamed Trump for scuttling the deal in Congress and brought up the issue of children being forcibly separated from their parents as well as being held at the border.
“The former president is more interested in finding a problem to solve through his election than in supporting a solution that a bipartisan group of senators developed,” the Democrat from Delaware stated.
House Democrats who lean toward the progressive side have criticized Biden’s executive order from last week, calling it “a step in the wrong direction” and urging him to “reverse course.” Legal advocacy group ACLU plans to file a lawsuit against the new measure, which it compared to policies implemented by Trump administration.
During Sunday’s remarks, Mayorkas politely disagreed with the ACLU. I think they’re going to sue us. Our actions are fully justified under the law. Martha, protecting vulnerable people from predatory smugglers is not only about policing the border; it’s also our humanitarian duty.
In an effort to win over Latino voters, Vice President Biden is reportedly planning yet another immigration policy shift, this time to provide legal status to long-term unauthorized immigrants who have married U.S. citizens (AWN, Sunday).