Asked on CNN News Central on Wednesday how he would respond to claims that “illegal immigration and immigrant crime are one of the greatest threats to the nation today,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said such claims were “false.”
Co-host Kate Bolduin asked, “The threat, the threat landscape, of course, has evolved over 23 years. How have the omissions and gaps in information leading up to 9/11 evolved? What is the greatest threat to the American homeland today?”
Mayorkas responded: “Kate, the foreign terrorist threat that tragically struck our nation 23 years ago remains a problem that we must address. But the threat is evolving, and we are also concerned about individuals already here in the United States who have been radicalized to violence by false narratives, hateful ideologies, personal grievances and other narratives spread on social media.”
As the discussion turned to the border, Mayorkas said, “We have reduced encounters at our southern border by more than 50 percent, and that is through executive action. But the lasting solution to a system that everyone sees as broken is for Congress to act, and they have not been able to do so because some have interfered with a bipartisan bill in the Senate that would have been an incredible compromise and would have made a huge difference in border security. That said, crime is going down in this country, and demonizing immigrants is counter to the values of this country.”
Bolduin then asked, “What do you say when you hear the accusation that illegal immigration and immigrant crime are one of the greatest threats to the nation today?”
“That is false,” Mayorkas responded.
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