The Biden administration has not set off a crisis at the southern border, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is defending the White House after a sharp critique on Sunday about its immigration policies by former President Donald Trump.
“The answer is no,” Mayorkas said at the White House on Monday when asked if he believes there is a crisis at the border now.
Growing numbers of unaccompanied migrant children have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks, with the Department of Health and Human Services reporting last week that its facilities for children were nearing capacity.
Mayorkas called the situation “a challenge” the administration is devoting resources to and “managing.”
He also called on migrants to stay home — for the time being.
“A message to those individuals who are thinking of coming to our border: They need to wait,” he said, restating a position voiced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a virtual tour of the southern border last week.
“It takes time to rebuild the system from scratch. If they come, if families come, if single adults come, we are obligated to … return them,” under the Trump administration’s Title 42 rule to expel migrants at the border rapidly, Mayorkas said.
“We are not saying don’t come,” he continued. “We are saying don’t come now.”
President Biden will meet by video conference Monday with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, an important partner as he moves to walk back Trump’s border and immigration policies.
Trump, on Sunday, railed against Biden’s reversal of his immigration policies, charging that the new president had “triggered a massive flood” of illegal migration.
“It took the new administration only a few weeks to turn this unprecedented accomplishment into a self-inflicted humanitarian and national security disaster,” Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “By recklessly eliminating our border, security measures, controls, all the things we put into place, Joe Biden has triggered a massive flood of illegal immigration into our country like we’ve never seen before.”
Customs and Border Protection took custody of 5,900 unaccompanied migrant children in January, a number that is expected to grow to 13,000 in May, according to Axios.
