The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, he told the border agents who patrol the Yuma sector throughout California and Arizona who understood that the influx had made their work difficult .
“The job hasn’t gotten any easier in the last few months and it was very , very difficult throughout 2021,” Mayorkas told agents, according to a recording of the comments obtained by the Townhall site.
Since March last year, border agents have encountered at least 400,000 people per month trying to cross the country illegally, an increase of more than three times that of the previous year, under the administration of Trump, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics.
EXCLUSIVE: I was given audio of DHS Sec Mayorkas’ meeting with Border Patrol agents in the Yuma Sector today. It did not go well. One agent turned his back on Mayorkas.
Mayortas admitted the border is the worse it’s been in over 20 years, “if not ever.” https://t.co/hAdryUWeke
—Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas04) January 26, 2022
“I know that stopping families and children is not what they signed up for. And now we have a composition that is changing even more with Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and the like, it just becomes more difficult,” Mayorkas said on the recording.
President Joe Biden closed the “Remain in Mexico” program due to humanitarian concerns for asylum seekers living in dire conditions.
“Let me tell you that you can turn your back on me, but I will not turn my back on you,” the cabinet member said, as he pledged to make sure workers had the resources to protect the southern border.
An angry agent replied that Mayorkas had turned his back on him first, said the outlet.
“I know that the policies of this administration are not particularly popular with US Customs and Border Protection, but that’s the reality and let’s see what we can do within that ma rco”, added Mayorkas.
The controversial visit occurred when the US re-established the “Remain in Mexico” policy of 2019, which forced asylum seekers to wait for their hearings south of the border.
President Joe Biden shut down the program over humanitarian concerns on his first day in office, after thousands of asylum seekers were held in makeshift camps riddled with crimes.
The administration was forced by court order to continue the program last summer.
Mayortas admitted that the policy “likely contributed to reducing migratory flows” and was working with Mexico to improve conditions for migrants as officials gradually reinstated it from Texas to the Pacific Ocean.
“We are implementing the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program in certain areas as we build capacity, and remember we rely on the partnership with Mexico to re-implement that program and we are working along the border in compliance with the court order,” Mayorkas told KYMA on Wednesday.
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