WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lamented the delay in immigration enforcement actions until the final year of President Biden’s term — despite having testified to Congress several times while in office that the US border was “secure.”
In an appearance Tuesday at Politico’s Security Summit, Mayorkas discussed aspects of the “broken” immigration system in America, acknowledging that a “low bar” for those expressing “credible fear of persecution” allowed too many migrants into the country during the Biden administration.
More than 8 million entered by the start of the 46th president’s final year in office — before Biden moved to shut down the border and crack down on illegal crossings via an executive order, first reported by The Post.
Democrats had been urging tighter border security months before, with at least one referring to Biden’s delay as “political malpractice.”
Mayorkas declined to “speculate” on the reasons for the too-little-too-late decision, which fueled President Trump’s return to the White House with a border security pledge.
“I am not in a position to speculate,” he told Politico’s Alex Burns at the Tuesday event when asked whether the delayed order enabled Trump’s 2024 victory, “but I will tell you that I would be far more better rested and less punched.”
The former DHS chief testified several times to Congress that illegal crossings were not an issue under Biden and the border was “secure,” leading to his impeachment in February 2024.
“With the authorities and the funding that we have, it is as secure as it can be,” Mayorkas also told a House committee just weeks after the impeachment.
On Tuesday, he provided a markedly different assessment.
“I was very pleased that in June of 2024, we took executive action that, I thought, made reforms that were sensible and that proved successful,” he told Burns.
“Our tougher border stance in June of ‘24 was coupled with an increased focus on providing lawful pathways for people to arrive at the United States outside the hands of smugglers — more secure and more humanitarian. Those two combined — our numbers dropped 70, 75%.”
Elsewhere, Mayorkas also dodged responsibility for losing track of tens of thousands of migrant kids that the Biden administration let into the country through the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement in coordination with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Some of former Secretary Becerra’s opponents say that voters should hold him responsible for losing track of tens of thousands of migrant children when he was HHS secretary. How much responsibility do you think he bears for that?” asked Burns.
“I know of the press reports, but I don’t know of the data,” Mayorkas replied, saying it’s “very difficult for me to judge the competency or performance of another cabinet secretary, because one has to be in that position, understand the opportunities for success, the challenges that one confronts and I don’t think it’s fair for me to judge over the fence.”
