Leaked Audio: DHS Sec. Warns US May ‘Lose’ Southern Border Crisis Amid Influx of Migrant Encounters
20:02 GMT 13.08.2021 (Updated: 13:22 GMT 06.08.2022)
© REUTERS / Jose Luis Gonzalez
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US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Thursday that border authorities have encountered an "unprecedented number of migrants" at the country's southern border. Officials logged over 212,000 migrant encounters for July, translating to an approximate 13% uptick from June.
While visiting Texas earlier this week, Mayorkas warned US border agents that it appears the Biden administration may "lose" at the southern border as an "unsustainable" amount of migrants attempt to illegally cross into the states.
"A couple of days ago I was down in Mexico, and I said look, you know, 'If, if our borders are the first line of defense, we're going to lose, and this is unsustainable,'" Mayorkas said, according to leaked audio obtained by Fox News.
"We can't continue like this, our people in the field can't continue, and our system isn't built for it."
The DHS Secretary repeatedly emphasized that the current situation at the US-Mexico border "cannot continue" -- primarily because certain sectors of the US' southern border recently came close to "breaking."
As a result of these developments, the DHS will be looking into new policies, Mayorkas noted.
GOP criticism of the Biden administration's handling of the situation at the US-Mexico border has grown alongside the number of migrant encounters.
Shortly after the audio was published, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) issued a statement condemning the DHS Secretary as a "defeatist" who should resign.
"The buck must stop somewhere. A defeatist is not what we need when it comes to fighting for border security," the Arizona governor wrote. "It is time for Secretary Mayorkas to resign, and for him to be replaced with someone who will tell the American people the truth publicly, stand up to the radical activists inside the Biden-Harris administration and once and for all end the crisis at the southern border."
At the same time, the Biden administration is receiving pushback from the other side of the aisle, as progressive Democrats and organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union have called for the administration to halt enforcement of Title 42.
Title 42 - a Trump-era policy - allows authorities to turn away a substantial portion of migrants at the border due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
While the Biden administration has hinted at doing away with the policy and bolstering the asylum system, the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention confirmed earlier this month that it would remain in place as the country grapples with surges of the Delta variant.
