Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas blamed House Republicans on Sunday for record high migrant crossings at the southern border after voting largely along party lines. Sinks bipartisan border security bill Includes foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Mayorkas was asked by moderator Kristen Welker whether he was responsible for the influx of migrants trying to cross the border and the backlog of asylum claims that President Joe Biden called a “crisis.”
“This is certainly a crisis and we’re not responsible for a broken system, and we’re dealing with a huge amount within that broken system,” he said. “But in principle, Congress is the only one who can fix it.”
Pressed by Welker on whether Biden agreed the border was not “secure,” Mayorkas said, “There’s no question we have a broken system,” and repeated his call for Congress to act.
“There’s no doubt that Congress needs to fix this, and we’re doing everything we can within this broken system outside of legislation to fix a problem that’s not just a problem for the United States, but for our entire region,” he said.
NBC News reported that Biden involves taking executive measures prevent illegal migration at the border. Welker noted Republican calls for Biden to close the border before asking Mayorkas, “Why doesn’t the president just close the border and let the courts try to stop it?”
Mayorkas said the administration has taken several steps and continues to “review the options available to us.” He later argued that problems at the border would be solved by a bipartisan border security bill that Republicans own. He was killed less than 48 hours after the publication of his text.
“A bipartisan group of senators provided us with the tools and resources we need now — a bipartisan group — and yet they killed it before Congress even read it,” he said.
Mallorca He narrowly survived an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives last week when three Republican lawmakers broke with their party to sink the resolution.
But on Friday, House GOP leaders signaled they could move forward with a new impeachment vote like tuesday.
Mayorkas served as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Biden administration from 2021, and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security for three years in the Obama administration.
Before last Tuesday’s failed impeachment vote, Biden blasted the GOP’s efforts. He said this in a statement to NBC News Impeachment of Majorca would be “an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retaliation that will do nothing to address the challenges our nation faces in securing the border,” he said.
It’s still unclear if Republicans will have the votes this week to impeach Majorca, but the expected return of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is undergoing cancer treatment, will tip the math in favor of passage.
On Saturday, Wisconsin GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, who was one of three Republicans to vote against the secretary’s impeachment and faced scrutiny from other members of his party over the decision, announced he would not run for re-election.