Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted Sunday that as many as 12,000 Haitian migrants who recently entered the United States illegally have been released into the U.S. — not repatriated to their home country.
The Biden administration promised “widespread expulsions” of the Haitian migrants that encamped under the Del Rio International Bridge, the Associated Press reported. That promise was exposed as yet another lie when the AP reported the Biden administration was actually releasing the migrants on a “very, very large scale.”
While the Biden administration promised repatriation for the migrants, administration officials said nothing about the migrants staying in America.
What did Mayorkas say?
“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace confronted Mayorkas about the discrepancy Sunday after noting that Mayorkas told him that 12,400 of the migrants are having their cases processed by immigration courts, while another 5,000 migrants are currently being processed by Homeland Security.
“Mr. Secretary, of those 17,400, how many have been released into the U.S., and how many more potentially could be released into the U.S.?” Wallace asked.
Mayorkas admitted that only “about 3,000” of the Del Rio migrants are currently detained.
When Wallace asked Mayorkas the question again, noting that Mayorkas dodged the question, Mayorkas said that “approximately 10,000 or so” of migrants who were encamped in Del Rio have been released into the U.S. — then Mayorkas immediately revised his estimate to 12,000.
For the remaining 5,000 migrants who are being processed by the DHS, Mayorkas said immigration officials would determine whether they are released or repatriated based on “our public health and our public interest.”
“It could be even higher,” Mayorkas then admitted of the number of released migrants when Wallace asked for a clarification.
When Wallace confronted Mayorkas with the fact that a significant number of migrants who are conditionally released into the U.S. end up settling here permanently, the DHS secretary deflected and said that fact highlights “that our immigration system is broken and legislative reform is needed.”
Later in the interview, Wallace asked why the Biden administration did not stop the “flood” of migrants from illegally entering the U.S. With a straight face, Mayorkas claimed, “we did.”
“Why didn’t you build a wall or a fence to stop them from walking— this flood of people coming across the dam?” Wallace asked. “It looks like a highway that allows them to cross the Rio Grande.”
“It is the policy of this administration. We do not agree with the building of the wall,” Mayorkas said. “The law provides that individuals can make a claim for humanitarian relief. That is actually one of our proudest traditions.”