WASHINGTON – Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas defends the Biden government’s handling of a new upsurge of minor minors on the US-Mexico border amid humanitarian and security issues and says the American people will “look back” and say that we have secured the border and we have upheld our values. ‘
Mayorkas stressed in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the government’s message to those who want access is that “the border has been closed.” But he said that while the government will continue to evict families and single adults, it will not send unaccompanied minors back.
“We will not drive to the Mexican desert, for example, three orphans,” Mayorkas said, even as he warned to come to the border.
“We are safely processing the children who come to our border,” he said. “We make a serious appeal, and the message is clear, not to do it now. I cannot exaggerate the dangers of the journey they are undertaking.”
Mayorkas linked some problems to the Trump administration’s policy, which he said “disrupted the orderly, humane and effective way of allowing children to make their claims under US law in their own country.”
“We are rebuilding the orderly systems, both in Mexico, in close partnerships with the Mexican government, and in the countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador,” he said.
Mayorkas pointed to the overcrowding exacerbated by the pandemic, saying the government was working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to build temporary facilities to get unaccompanied minors out of border patrol stations. A border patrol station is, according to him, ‘no place for a child’.
Former President Donald Trump struggled in a statement on Sunday night in a statement on Mayorkas and Biden’s government, saying ‘they are moving fast and taking on water fast’, describing the system he has set up as’ flexible ‘and’ the safest border in history. ‘
“Even someone from Mayorkas’ limited capabilities needs to understand that if you offer capture and release to the world’s illegal aliens, the whole world will come,” Trump said.
NBC News reported last week that the government is restricting media access to information about the operations at the border, which amounts to what some current and former Customs and Border Protection officials called an unofficial ‘gag order’.
Mayorkas denied any gag order. He said that although the government was focusing on navigating the difficult situation, exacerbated by the pandemic, it was working to “provide access” for the public to see the circumstances.
The administration is struggling with a sharp increase in the number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the border. According to data obtained by NBC News, the border patrol had 5,049 unaccompanied children in custody.
The arrivals underscore the system, which has sparked humanitarian criticism and complaints from Republicans, as well as some Democrats, that the Biden government is not doing enough to stem the flow of migrants.
Biden, who returned to the White House Sunday night from the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, was asked if he intended to go to the border.
“At some point I will,” he told the pool reporter.