If Biden Acted on Border Earlier, ‘It Would Be Litigated Earlier’

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with PBS NewsHour on Tuesday that he would not be able to resolve border issues in light of criticism from Deputy Director P.J. Lechleitner, who serves as ICE director, and senior officials who serve as director. He defended President Joe Biden for waiting to take executive action, saying: Had Biden acted sooner, he said, “we would have had a lawsuit sooner, and the outcome is still uncertain.”

Co-host Amna Nawaz asked, “President Biden also did not take any new executive action until June of last year, so what have those actions resulted in now?” Encounter rates at the U.S. southern border have decreased by 60%. I think you've seen a man named PJ Lechleitner, the outgoing ICE director, say in an interview that Mr. Biden should have taken such action sooner. He said, in part, “The administration should have taken that action sooner, and I think career people at DHS would have liked that.” [and] Frankly, all of us at DHS. I don't know if someone at DHS didn't want it sooner. ” Is he wrong? ”

Mr. Mayorkas replied: “Where are we now? Let me answer your questions. First, where are we now? We are providing the incoming administration with the most secure border in years. Right now. , the average number of encounters per month is lower than in 2019. So we took executive action. We at the Department of Homeland Security took executive action. It was carried out on

He went on to say: “Let's take a step back and remember where we were. We came into this administration in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when public health authorities, Title 42, were enacted. In May 2023, public health officials no longer needed it, and the virus was lifted at 18,000 cases per day. We expected many disasters. They never came to pass. Then we had Title 42. We went to Congress and asked for much-needed resources: more Border Patrol agents, more ICE agents, more asylum officers, more immigration agents. We then asked Congress for a second time because the need was so dire. We were vetoed again and moved on to bipartisan Senate negotiations, which actually produced the first innovative bill in nearly 30 years, only to see it fail politically. And with that in mind, the president took immediate executive action and the lasting solution is legislation.

So Nawaz asked: But, Mr. Secretary, your critics will point out that if this were a priority for the administration, the president could have taken executive action much earlier and said if Congress doesn't act, I will. What do you say to that?

Mr. Mayorkas replied: “If that happens, we will likely see a lawsuit filed sooner, and the outcome is still unclear. On the first day, the president proposed legislative reform to Congress. Since then, we have been advocating for and supporting legal reform every day. That's the solution to our broken immigration system.”