DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas’ secure border claim a ‘lie,’ CBP officials say
Border Patrol officials are blasting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for claiming the southern border of the US is “secure,” calling it a “lie” as the nation just shattered the record for most border stops in a single year.
“Look, the border is secure,” Mayorkas insisted during the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday. “We are working to make the border more secure. That has been a historic challenge.”
While a total of 1,746,119 migrant encounters have been recorded in FY 2022 — which began in October — as of June, the secretary pointed fingers at lawmakers for the historic numbers.
“I have said to a number of legislators who expressed to me that we need to address the challenge at the border before they pass legislation and I take issue with the math of holding the solution hostage until the problem is resolved,” he said.
“There is work to be done,” Mayorkas continued, adding that “safe and secure are two different words.”
“There are smugglers that operate on the Mexican side of the border, and placing one’s life in their hands is not safe,” he said.
Border Patrol officials quickly blasted the secretary’s comments, with one agent pointing to the hundreds of thousands who have crossed the border in recent months.
“Hundreds of thousands crossing every month is not the definition of secure,” the agent told Fox News Digital. “They are liars and anyone who believes them are fools.”
In June, 207,416 migrant encounters along the southern border were recorded. While it represents a 14% drop in overall border stops from May, it still was the fourth month in a row that recorded more than 200,000 encounters.
One Border Patrol source accused Mayorkas of telling “boldface lies.”
“They’re using issues like poverty, crime and climate change as reasons for asylum but those do not meet the legal stand of the law,” the source told the outlet.
“Mayorkas, [Border Patrol Chief Raul] Ortiz and [President] Biden are failures that do not have the support of agents and many command staff, they all have violated their ‘oath’ of office to defend the laws and Constitution and should be removed,” the source said.
Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, pointed to the fact that thousands of migrants continue to get past border agents every day, calling it the “scariest part of border security.”
“As bad as the apprehension numbers are, and they are beyond bad, the scariest part of border security is the gotaways and the amount of drugs that are coming into the country,” Judd told Fox News Digital, accusing Mayorkas of knowing that the US has “the least secure border in our history.”
“There are easy solutions but based upon the evidence and a refusal to implement programs to secure the border, it is clear this Administration including Secretary Mayorkas clearly does not care about the American people.”
Earlier this month, Customs and Border Patrol highlighted that drug seizures in June were up 25% compared to the month before. Overall, cocaine seizures increased by 62% and methamphetamine increased by 14%. Heroin and fentanyl seizures decreased by 49% and 41%, respectively.
Since the start of the Biden administration, the president and his cabinet have been heavily criticized for their response to the migration increases — particularly for attempting to throw out several polices put in place during the Trump administration to curb migration.
Most recently, the administration sought to end the Title 42 health policy that permits border officials to swiftly expel migrants without hearing asylum claims due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, in May, a federal judge ruled that the policy must remain in place.
