Alejandro Mayorkas put the blame squarely on Congress when NBC’s Kristen Welker asked if he bore responsibility for the crisis at the southern border.
The DHS secretary appeared on Meet The Press Sunday, after a week that saw the House failing to impeach him for “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” due to what he called “a broken system” at the border that only Congress can fix.
“A bipartisan group of Senators have now presented us with the tools and resources we need — bipartisan group,” Mayorkas emphasized. “And yet Congress killed it without even reading it.”
Welker pushed back, saying, “No doubt there is gridlock on Congress. But do you bear responsibility for what is happening at the border, for what the president, himself, has called ‘a crisis.’”
“It certainly is a crisis,” Mayorkas admitted. “And, well, we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system. But, fundamentally — fundamentally — Congress is the only one who can fix it.”
Mayorkas added that he inherited the system “that has not been fixed in 30 years.”
CBS News reported:
The border security bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week took months to be negotiated, but just days to be rejected by 45 Republicans and five Democrats.
The legislation came about after Congressional Republicans insisted on tying border security measures with any more military funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The bill also included military funding for Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza.
Despite former President Donald Trump urging Republicans to reject the bill, four Senate Republicans voted for it:
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), James Lankford (R-OK) and Mitt Romney (R-UT).
Roughly 2.5 million migrants came through the border with Mexico in 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Watch the clip above via NBC News.
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