Mayorkas goes on the offensive as GOP scrutiny builds, says it’s up to Congress to fix immigration system

Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed the finger again at Congress to repair the nation’s damaged immigration system and maintained that he is not going to resign from his submit in an new interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace.

Home Republicans, who’ve been fierce critics of President Joe Biden’s immigration insurance policies, have been shifting to construct a case towards Mayorkas as they contemplate launching uncommon impeachment proceedings towards a Cupboard secretary.

“I’m not going to resign,” Mayorkas advised CNN’s Chris Wallace on “Who’s Speaking to Chris Wallace,” which is now streaming on HBOMax and airs Sunday night time at 7 p.m. ET on CNN.

“I name upon Congress – because the president has executed, as this nation has executed – to really repair an immigration system that has been damaged for many years,” he added.

Republican lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas’ claims of getting operational management of the border are unfounded and that the file arrests mark a dereliction of responsibility – two themes which have come up repeatedly in congressional hearings and have been cited as cause to question the secretary.

Forward of potential proceedings, the Division of Homeland Safety is bringing on a non-public regulation agency to assist with potential impeachment proceedings towards Mayorkas.

“I don’t have any intention of being uncooperative. I’ve full confidence within the integrity of our determination making,” Mayorkas advised Wallace.

Over latest weeks, key committee chairman already held two congressional hearings over the Biden administration’s dealing with of the US-Mexico border. Earlier this month, the Home Judiciary Committee, which might have jurisdiction over an impeachment decision, held its first border-related listening to.

“These numbers clarify that the Biden administration doesn’t have operational management of the border,” Home Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan stated throughout a February listening to. “Month after month after month, we now have set data for migrants coming into the nation and albeit, I feel it’s intentional.”

Pressed by Wallace on what it means for the border to be safe and if it means folks aren’t illegally crossing the border, Mayorkas stated: “In fact not. By that measure, the border has by no means been safe, proper?”

Requested once more by what measure the border is safe, he stated: “There may be not a typical definition of that. If one appears to be like on the statutory definition, the literal interpretation of the statutory language, if one individual efficiently evades regulation enforcement on the border, then we now have breached the safety of the border.”

He added: “What our aim is – to attain operational management of the border, to do every part that we will to assist our personnel with the sources, the know-how, the insurance policies that actually advance the safety of the border, and don’t come at the price of the values of our nation. And I say that, I say that, as a result of within the prior administration, insurance policies have been promulgated, have been handed, that didn’t hew to the values that we maintain expensive.”

The Biden administration faces unprecedented motion throughout the Western Hemisphere that has contributed to a surge of migrants on the border, together with extra folks from totally different international locations, corresponding to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The US is essentially barred from deporting migrants to Cuba and Venezuela, presenting a singular set of challenges for DHS.

“The extent of migration that has gripped our hemisphere is extraordinary,” Mayorkas stated, stressing that Congress must go reform to repair the immigration system, which Republicans and Democrats agree is damaged.

US border authorities encountered migrants greater than 2.3 million instances alongside the US-Mexico border in fiscal yr 2022, in keeping with US Customs and Border Safety knowledge. Of these, greater than 1 million migrants have been turned away on the border.

In early January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to incorporate Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans to supply a authorized pathway for them to enter the US as a substitute of crossing the border. The administration additionally made these nationalities eligible for Title 42, that means they will now be turned away by authorities in the event that they don’t apply for this system.

Since then, there was a big decline in migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela crossing the US-Mexico border unlawfully, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety, which attributed the drop to new border measures.