Mayorkas blames CONGRESS for border chaos as daily migrant crossings hit a RECORD of 10,000 a day
White House blames CONGRESS for border chaos as daily border crossings hit a RECORD of 10,000 a day: Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary admits there will be a wave of crossings when Title 42 ends
- The White House pointed the finger at Congress on Wednesday over the current border chaos
- Migrant crossings have reached more than 10,000 a day before Title 42 expires on Thursday
- Both DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shamed lawmakers for not passing an immigration law
The White House pointed the finger at Congress on Wednesday for the current chaos at the border, as 10,000 migrants a day cross before Title 42 expires.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas gave a press conference Wednesday, while White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One as President Joe Biden traveled to New York.
Both officials had the same message: the Biden administration did what it could while Congress did nothing.
“I cannot stress enough that our current situation is a result of Congress allowing a broken, antiquated immigration system to exist for more than two decades,” Mayorkas said.
Jean-Pierre pointed to the immigration bill Biden presented when he took office in January 2021. “And Congress, especially the Republicans in Congress, are refusing, they are literally refusing to act,” she noted.
“I cannot stress enough that our current situation is the result of Congress having allowed a broken, antiquated immigration system to continue for more than two decades,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday.
“They refuse to come to the center and meet us in the middle and come up with a real solution,” she added.
The government is bracing for a border crush as Title 42 – the pandemic-era rule used to immediately deport migrants – expires on Thursday.
Even in the days leading up to title 42 expiring, Fox News reported that that Border Police officers arrested more than 10,000 migrants a day both Monday and Tuesday – setting the highest single-day records.
“Our overall approach is to build legal routes for people to get to the United States and to enforce harsher consequences for those who choose not to use those routes,” Mayorkas said. “We are pursuing this approach within the constraints of a fractured immigration system that Congress has not resolved in more than two decades.”
He noted that the CBP already saw a large number of crossing migrants on Thursday.
“We have a clear view of the challenges we are likely to face in the coming days and weeks, which have the potential to become very difficult,” Mayorkas continued. “Even after nearly two years of preparation, we expect large numbers of encounters at our southern border in the days and weeks following May 11.”