DHS Immigration Statement Filled with Misleading Facts on Border Crisis

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday released a statement to address the border situation. Though proclaiming to present “the facts,” the news release offered numerous claims in need of a fact check.

For example, Mayorkas claimed, “The expulsion of single adults does not pose an operational challenge.” Really? Thousands of additional illegal immigrants per DAY is not enough of a challenge for you? Is this why President Joe Biden begged immigrants to stay away during a television interview this week?

The claim is only true if “operational challenge” means our nation has not yet totally fallen apart. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shared this week, the border situation is by definition a crisis.

A second misleading claim noted, “We are not expelling unaccompanied children.” Team Biden wants Americans to believe he is the more humane, compassionate leader out to care for poor immigrant kids, in contrast with former President Donald Trump, who the left claimed wanted to lock “kids in cages.” But the statement is only partially true.

Most Americans would be surprised to discover American Border Patrol does expel immigrant children from Mexico. Instead, America is only “not expelling” immigrant children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

This means most of the 13,000 “migrant children” Border Patrol currently has in custody are from Central America, not Mexico. Our nation is not being overwhelmed by young Mexican cartel members in the Dallas Convention Center. We’re being packed with Central American teenage boys looking for new opportunities in the U.S.

Of course, all the left’s problems with immigration are Trump’s fault. The statement by Mayorkas also noted, “The prior administration completely dismantled the asylum system.”

The statement, however, fails to mention the tremendous backlog of cases Trump inherited from former President Barack Obama’s eight years of immigration mismanagement. In addition, asylums granted in 2019 were higher than any year since 1990. Why? Trump’s policies led to processing more cases, generating higher numbers despite stronger immigration restrictions.

And don’t forget, Trump is the president who fought Democrats every day to build a border wall, ended Obama’s dangerous catch-and-release policy, and made a deal with Mexico for asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearing rather than in the U.S.

Mayorkas can argue the nation is, “Staying true to our values and principles,” all he wants, but this is all spin unless you redefine values to mean leftist values. Americans want and deserve a secure border and a safe nation. This simply is not happening under current Biden immigration policies.

Instead of claiming they have it under control, the DHS needs to take responsibility for its failures and change course. Instead, border states like Texas are now forced to launch their own protective measures to guard their citizens.

America’s refugee problem is quickly spiraling beyond control. We’re no longer facing only a large number of illegal immigrants; we’re inheriting the problems of the nations they are fleeing. From human trafficking to drug smuggling, and COVID-19 to gangs, America’s borders are becoming a battlefield. We need a new game plan to change course before it’s too late.