Some 12,000 of the predominantly Haitian illegal aliens amassed at Del Rio, Texas, have been released into the country, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The head of the department whose mission is to keep America secure apparently does not believe that the situation is critical. Despite the administration having already “succeeded” in letting a record number of illegal immigrants in, Mayorkas insisted that letting in massive numbers of illegal immigrants is actually part of the country’s “proud tradition.”
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Mayorkas was asked by host Chris Wallace how many thousands of the Haitian migrants had been released into the country.
“I think it’s about 10,000 or so … 12,000,” Mayorkas said. Around 3,000 others have been detained. Overall, about 5,000 cases are still being processed by the DHS. Given those numbers, Mayorkas admitted the number of illegals released into the United States most probably could increase as those cases were reviewed.
“It could be even higher. And the number that are returned could be even higher,” the country’s top immigration official stated. Previously, the department indicated that out of 30,000 migrants that seemed to materialize out of thin air, the total number of those who crossed the U.S. southern border did not top 15,000. Now, the number has grown to 17,400.
Mayorkas further maintained that the department remains “in touch” with those who are released, since they are required to appear in court to argue their cases.
Noting that the removal proceedings, including asylum cases, can take anywhere from six months to several years, Wallace cited Department of Justice data that indicated 44 percent of those who are released from custody never show up in court in order to legalize their status.
Mayorkas claimed that such people are the department’s “enforcement priority” for removal. “Do you remove all of them or some of them disappear into the country?” Wallace quipped, to which Mayorkas responded, “It is our intention,” while adding the DHS has policies and procedures in place to make sure the Americans “remain safe.”
The host pointed out that there are more than 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in America, which indicates that despite the department’s “best efforts,” millions of people “end up in this country and don’t just disappear.” Mayorkas, however, seemingly pinned the blame on the Trump administration while refusing to take any responsibility for the unseen surge of illegal border crossing under his watch: “11 million people in this country without lawful presence is a compelling reason why there is unanimity about the fact that our immigration system is broken and legislative reform is needed,” Mayorkas argued.
Mayorkas indicated he disagreed with the idea that the Biden administration has been a magnet for illegal immigration. He called the surge “nothing new” and insisted, despite the data from his own department showing the numbers jumped under Biden, that the administration was only “following rule of law” when allowing migrants to cross the border unchecked in large numbers.
In a way, Mayorkas is right, since Biden ended many of the immigration safeguards set by the previous administration. Among other actions, Mayorkas’ boss halted the construction of the border wall, paused deportations of illegal immigrants, and suspended the “remain in Mexico” policy that required all asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for American court hearings. The new law that Mayorkas follows essentially opens the border — which is what Biden pledged to do while on the campaign trail.
Therefore, the question on why the Biden administration did not stop all those thousands of migrants from crossing the Rio Grande into Texas by “building a wall or a fence” was met by the DHS chief with a firm response. “It is the policy of this administration: we do not agree with the building of the wall,” Mayorkas said. “The law provides that individuals can make a claim for humanitarian relief. That is actually one of our proudest traditions,” he added.
The administration that is so preoccupied with COVID protocols and their enforcement — starting with mandatory masking of the youngest of Americans to mandatory vaccinations of adults and those legally traveling to the United States — appears to be suspiciously lenient when it comes to illegal border-crossers. While Mayorkas claimed on Sunday that DHS has “testing protocols” in place for the undocumented, he admitted admitted on Friday that the 15,000 Haitians settled under the Del Rio bridge were not tested for COVID. Unless the DHS enforced the testing within two days, Mayorkas was making false claims.
On Monday, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan stated that in reality, much more migrants have made it to America than claimed. He accused Mayorkas of deliberately misleading the public by underestimating the number of migrants successfully crossing the border because he didn’t account for those who were never confronted by border agents: “He [Mayorkas] realizes they went one or two miles down the line and came into the United States because they saw so many resources go to Del Rio that they left 224 miles of border unguarded,” Homan said.
The revelations come as even more Haitian migrants are reportedly en route to the United States, with images emerging Saturday of a yet another caravan traveling to the Panama border from Acandi, Colombia.
