Mayorkas be blamin' Mexico, the Congress for this grand border surge! Beggin' for more booty and reforms, arrr!
2024-01-08
Arr, ye scurvy dogs! The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, be havin' a grand press conference in Eagle Pass, Texas. He be pleadin' with them swabbies in Congress to fork over more doubloons for guardin' the border. Give 'im the loot, ye scallywags!
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Eagle Pass, Texas to address the crisis at the southern border. He acknowledged the unprecedented levels of illegal crossings that were overwhelming the immigration system and under-resourced facilities. Mayorkas called for additional funding from Congress to hire more officers and judges to handle asylum claims more efficiently. He also blamed the lack of funding for the Immigration Enforcement Agency in Mexico for the historic surges in December. These comments came ahead of an impeachment hearing into Mayorkas' handling of the border situation. Customs and Border Patrol sources reported that there were over 276,000 migrant encounters at the end of December, setting a new record. Mayorkas could potentially become the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876. In Eagle Pass, he refuted claims that DHS was not enforcing the border, stating that the agency was working tirelessly to uphold the law. However, it was later revealed that Mayorkas had privately admitted that the rate of release for apprehended illegal immigrants at the border was "above 85%." As court dates for asylum claims were being set years into the future, Senate negotiators were working on a bipartisan border security proposal to reduce the number of migrants seeking asylum in the US. The Biden administration was involved in these talks, aiming to secure support for funding Ukraine's defense while addressing the border crisis. Republicans demanded that the funding be paired with border security changes.