Alejandro Mayorkas (U.S. Sec. of Homeland Security) on "Face the Nation" | Mar. 03

Interview

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"Good morning, Margaret. Thanks for having me.

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Margaret, we as an administration have taken executive actions. Those executive actions are being litigated. We do need Congress to act.

For more than three decades, our system has been broken. A bipartisan group of senators have put forth a real solution that would provide the Department of Homeland Security and other departments and agencies involved in the immigration system with resources that we need, as well as policy changes that will fix this system. We need Congress to act. That is the enduring solution.

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That's inaccurate.

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And…

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That is – that is inaccurate. And let me – let me say that…

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Since we – we have done – we have reprogrammed funds in the past, because we have not been adequately resourced, again emphasizing the importance of the legislation that would provide not only more personnel and more resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but 1,500 personnel for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 4,300 asylum officers.

This is vitally important. But in terms of enforcing our law with the resources we have, since May of last year, we have removed or returned more people than in any entire year since 2015. Over the last three years, we've removed, returned or expelled more people than in the four years of the prior administration.

We are doing more with less, but we need more, and we need the system fixed. President Biden said it very frankly and very powerfully from Brownsville, Texas, just a few days ago. We need Congress to have a spine, do its job, which is work for the American people, and, rather than allow a problem to fester for political reasons, to actually deliver the solution that everyone agrees is needed.

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Margaret, we've taken executive action.

Former President Trump invoked 212(f)…

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… a statutory provision, and that was enjoined by the courts.

And so, when administrative actions are taken, they are often litigated, and they do not endure. The American people deserve and expect enduring solutions, and Congress needs to deliver on the American public's expectations.

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No, that's not – that's not what I'm saying.

We have an obligation to consider all options, as we do day in and day out. But those options are not going to deliver what legislation would.

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We cannot administratively provide nearly $20 billion to the Department of Homeland Security and the Departments of State and Justice to make our immigration system work better and to stop the ever-increasing immigration case court backlog that has been building year after year after year.

We can't – we can't administratively give the resources that we need. You need Congress to appropriate.

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SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: A few thoughts.

First, Margaret, first and foremost, an absolute tragedy, and our hearts break for and our prayers are with the family, number one. Number two, and, importantly, as a prosecutor, having prosecuted violent crime and other crimes for 12 years, one individual is responsible for the murder, and that is the murderer.

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And we work very closely with state and local law enforcement to ensure that individuals who pose a threat to public safety are indeed our highest priority for detention and removal.

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So, Margaret, there are a number of cities around the country that have varying degrees of cooperation with the immigration authorities.

We firmly believe that if…

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We firmly believe that, if a city is aware of an individual who poses a threat to public safety, then we would request that they provide us with that information so that we can ensure that that individual is detained if the facts so warrant.

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Well, different cities have different levels of cooperation. We were not notified in this instance.

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SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: Thank you so much, Margaret."

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