Mayorkas Defends Timing of Biden Executive Border Bill

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday defended the timing of the Biden administration’s recent executive order on border security, blaming it on past inaction in Congress.

ABC News “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, speaking with Mayorkas on Sunday, asked the DHS chief why the White House waited four months after a bipartisan border security agreement failed in the Senate, to implement your own action.

“Let’s look at the timeline. On the first day of his administration, President Biden sent a bill to Congress. Title 42, the public health order, was in effect until May 2023,” Mayorkas responded. “We implemented a regulation that restricted asylum and then pressured Congress to provide our department with a supplemental funding bill in August. This was unsuccessful.”

“So in October we sought action in Congress and then we began, Martha, the difficult work of bipartisan negotiation with Republican and Democratic senators,” he added.

President Biden last week announced his long-awaited executive action that will turn away asylum-seeking migrants illegally crossing the southern border when there is a high volume of daily encounters.

The order will be enforced when the seven-day average of daily border crossings exceeds 2,500 between ports of entry, senior administration officials said, meaning it will take effect immediately. Biden issued a proclamation announcing the change to the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The executive order came months after Senate Republicans helped sink bipartisan border security legislation crafted last fall among lawmakers and Biden administration officials. The legislation failed in the upper house for a second time last month.

Raddatz again pressed Mayorkas about the four-month gap in action.

“Martha, the bipartisan agreement was rejected once. We pushed again. It was rejected a second time. And then we developed this and implemented it and we’re at an early stage,” he said. “And we will not minimize the importance of this movement and the meaning of operationalizing it. And it requires the cooperation of other countries, which we guarantee.”

The Homeland Security leader called for congressional action to further curb illegal immigration.

“What we need … is Congressional action. We can’t staff the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Justice. We need Congress to legislate,” Mayorkas said.

Just days after the order began, Mayorkas expressed initial optimism about the results.

“It’s early days. The signs are positive. Our people have done an extraordinary job implementing a major change in how we operate at the southern border,” he said.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story