Critics are sounding the alarm after Alejandro Mayorkas’ visit to El Paso did not include an examination of the flooded border crossings or parts of the city where migrants sleep on the streets due to massive overcrowding in shelters.
While the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) was visiting border patrol agents and officials in El Paso, he did not look at this dire situation for which Republicans blame him.
“No, as far as I know and what I hear from the ground, he [Mayorkas] I didn’t go to the border,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told .
He slammed Tuesday’s trip as a “waste of taxpayers’ money” after at least a few hundred migrants were released onto the streets of El Paso to prepare for the mayorkas’ visit, according to Judd, and “make it look like it’s none as bad as.” the situation really was.’
“Personally, and the agents I spoke to, think this was a completely wasted trip,” Judd said. ‘He didn’t get out of there. He did not announce any new programs, operations or policies to bring the situation under control. In all honesty, we know there aren’t any.”
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to El Paso, Texas on Tuesday following reports of a massive surge in migration over the weekend — but he didn’t investigate the border or visit parts of the city where migrants are taking refuge on the streets
Mayorkas met with Border Patrol agents and officials, including Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego
The trip to El Paso comes after thousands poured into the city from Mexico in recent days. Pictured: Migrants walk across the Rio Grande to El Paso, Texas to hire themselves as border patrol agents Tuesday, December 13
“We don’t know what the reason for his visit was,” he added. “We believe it was just a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Mayorkas met with agents as well as with border police chief Raul Ortiz. He also had a meeting with El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and District Judge Ricardo Samaniego.
“I had a very productive meeting with El Paso Mayor Leeser and Judge Samaniego,” he said in a tweet that included pictures with guides. “El Paso’s commitment to working together to address the challenges we face is a model of partnership between the federal government and a frontline local community.”
DHS did not respond to a request from for comment on the secretary’s movements during his trip to El Paso.
About 498 migrants were ordered to leave an El Paso facility on Sunday and report to authorities to continue their immigration assessment.
With nowhere to go, migrants in central El Paso were forced to sleep on the floor, with some using cardboard boxes as mattresses. Temperatures fell to a frigid 34F over the weekend as migrants were left to seek refuge on the streets.
Hundreds of migrants have been left to sleep on the streets after being boated out of El Paso border facilities, which can only hold about 1,500 people at a time. Pictured: Migrants start a fire near the border wall to keep warm as temperatures plummeted to near freezing over the weekend
Migrants were photographed Monday, December 12, with boxes and mattresses to sleep on covered streets of El Paso
Meanwhile, Mayorkas met with Border Patrol officers to “consider the various ways we can strengthen our borders’ security, enforce our laws, and stay true to our values” while avoiding crossing the physical border between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico to visit
Over the weekend and earlier this week, images emerged of migrants trying to protect themselves from the elements using tarps and cardboard as mattresses.
Overcrowding at the El Paso detention center is due to a surge in border crossings in recent weeks. Between Saturday and Monday, an average of 2,460 asylum seekers saw each day in the El Paso sector alone.
National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd (pictured) told : “I personally… think this was a totally wasted trip. He did not announce any new programs, operations or policies to bring the situation under control.
Mayorkas has not surveyed the streets where migrants are camping or visited the border area where thousands are crossing before the end of Title 42.
“I think there’s absolutely value in personally observing what’s going on, because by observing it in person, you can ask the questions that need to be asked,” Judd said. “Without that, you don’t get this perspective.”
He also detailed that El Paso Border Police had 5,000 people in custody over the weekend, while facilities in the city can only hold about 1,500 migrants at a time.
Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents a district that includes much of the southern Texas border, told CNN that the Biden administration does not understand the urgency of the migration crisis. He also said he doesn’t understand why President Joe Biden doesn’t just visit the border and take out naysayers.
“I don’t know why they are avoiding the border and saying there are more important things than investing in the border,” Cuellar said. “If there is a crisis – come by. Just show up.’
Cuellar pointed out that there is a backlog of 1.9 million cases in immigration courts that would take several years to process.
At the same time, the Border Patrol releases at least hundreds of migrants to the United States every day because they cannot remain detained while they await the immigration process and their asylum claims to be processed.
Agents are faced with warnings that as the pandemic era ends, Title 42 could also trigger a massive spike in migration at the southern border – with a report predicting daily numbers could reach 14,000 crossings.
Title 42 was a COVID-related directive issued under former President Donald Trump that allowed for the immediate deportation of asylum-seeking migrants who illegally crossed the southern border during the public health emergency.
A group of GOP lawmakers held a press conference Tuesday afternoon calling for the impeachment of Mayorkas. They claim he committed perjury by lying to the American people about securing the southern border – Judd echoed the same sentiment.
“The problem is that he knows he can lie because he knows he’s not being fact checked by the vast majority of the media,” Judd lamented. “And if you are not fact checked, your lies become the truth. And that’s the problem we’re facing today.’
Nearly 20 House Republicans, led by Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, again called for Mayorkas to be removed from the DHS administration. They detailed during their press conference a number of serious crimes and misdemeanors they believe he committed.
“I expect our party to move forward with an impeachment trial in the next Congress,” Biggs said while being flanked by other Conservative lawmakers. “His behavior is not incompetent. It’s not negligent. It’s premeditated and intentional.’
The Arizona Republican, who has run to become speaker when Republicans take control of the House in January, said Mayorkas “willfully” failed to exercise operational control of the border under the Secure Fence Act of 2006 to maintain.
He also accused him of failing to detain illegal immigrants as required by law and of abusing his “limited authority” to parole immigrants into the United States.
Mayorkas told GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas in April he would “testify under oath” that DHS had “operational control of the border.”
Biggs said Mayorkas could likely face charges for lying to Congress on that front.