Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is “plainly in over his head,” so he’s blaming former President Donald Trump for the massive immigrant surge at the nation’s border with Mexico when the situation falls on President Joe Biden for canceling his predecessor’s orders, Sen. Tom Cotton said Monday.
“No matter how many TV interviews he does from Washington while he won’t let press travel with him to the border, or how many bumbling statements (President) Joe Biden says over helicopter engines (saying) ‘don’t come now,’ actions speak louder than words,” the Arkansas Republican said on Fox News.
“When thousand of migrants get from Central America to our border and get released into our country and sent text messages back and post on social media, hey, you can all come up now, the border is open, guess what?” he added. “People are going to come. If you let them in, more will come.”
Mayorkas on Sunday slammed the Trump administration for its actions on immigration, saying in several interviews that Trump dismantled a system that had been in place under former presidents, both Democrat and Republican, that had been used to deal with immigrants trying to enter the country.
He also said he’s not worried about setting a precedent on open borders by now allowing thousands of unaccompanied minors to enter the country.
“We are reordering the systems that the Trump administration tore down for the need for these children to take the perilous journey” Mayorkas told CNN. “We are investing in those countries. We are working in partnership with Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras to build processing centers in country to avoid the need for these children to take the perilous journey.”
The growing number of minors entering the country is no surprise because Biden “tore” up a requirement Trump had in effect to seek asylum while in Guatemala, where they must pass from all points in the south.
Biden could also reinstate Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, rather than allowing immigrants to be released into the United States while they’re awaiting their court dates, said Cotton.
If Trump’s policies were reinstated, “they would immediately stop this border crisis,” but Biden refuses to do that, the senator added.
He also pointed out that by the Biden administration sending the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the border, that means it’s an emergency situation.
“They claim these countries are too violent … Baltimore has a higher murder rate than most of these countries in the Central American northern triangle,” said Cotton. “Why should we expect that migrants have a right to come to our country to escape the so-called high violence there when Baltimore and other cities in America have higher murder rates than some of these countries than Central America.”
He also commented that if the Biden administration is proud of its “so-called humane and more compassionate policy” on the border, members of the press would be allowed to tour sites there.
But when migrants weren’t allowed in under Trump, “nobody had to worry about how many beds you have or how fast we can process illegal aliens into our country who have no right to be in our country in the first place,” said Cotton.
The senator also commented about the Democrats’ push to end the filibuster, noting that just four years ago, many of those pushing to end the filibuster were “pleading” with then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not to change the rules
“Now they have the barest of majorities in the Senate and the house and they want to ram through unpopular changes on a party-line basis like making Washington, D.C, a state or packing the federal court system, granting amnesty,” said Cotton. “Republicans haven’t filibustered a single bill in this Congress.”
Source: Newmax
