Immigration

BORDER CRISIS: DHS Secretary says admin ‘reengineered’ process for unaccompanied children

Published

3 years ago

May 7, 2021

Following a visit to an immigration facility in Donna, Texas Friday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a press conference to announce changes in processing migrant children.

“We have reengineered the process for the treatment of unaccompanied children,” Mayorkas said. Now, instead of Border Patrol officers corralling the children, they will be sent to Health and Human Services.

“They do not belong in a Border Patrol station,” Mayorkas said. “Children belong in the shelter of Health and Human Services.”

On March 28th, U.S. Border Patrol reported 5,767 children in their custody. These children remained in Border Patrol stations for an average of 133 hours. Later, on April 2nd, there were about 3,700 children in their custody for an average of 139 hours.

“There is unanimous agreement that our immigration system is broken reform is desperately needed,” Mayorkas admitted. But, “we’ve made tremendous progress and we will continue to make tremendous progress.”

When asked about Title 42, the COVID-19 directive that is currently limiting the flow of migrants, Mayorkas said he doesn’t see it ending soon.

“The pandemic is not yet behind us,” he said, calling it a directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It remains in place “to protect not only the American people but the migrants themselves,” Mayorkas said. Because it is “tied to data,” Mayorkas said it’s a matter of public health standards that it will be lifted, not an executive decision.

Mayorkas echoed President Biden’s statements, pinning the blame for the border crisis on the previous administration. “We inherited a system that had been torn down and dismantled,” Mayorkas said.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism

Immigration

BREAKING: Senate votes down both articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in party-line vote

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Sara Carter Staff

The Senate voted down two articles of impeachment Wednesday which alleged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas engaged in the “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” regarding the southern border in his capacity as DHS secretary. The second claimed Mayorkas had breached public trust.

What resulted in a party-line vote, began with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposing a point of order declaring the first article unconstitutional, to which the majority of senators agreed following several failed motions by Republicans. The article was deemed unconstitutional by a vote of 51-48, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voting present.

Fox News reports:

Schumer’s point of order was proposed after his request for unanimous consent, which would have provided a set amount of time for debate among the senators, as well as votes on two GOP resolutions and a set amount of agreed upon points of order, was objected to by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.

Schmitt stated in his objection that the Senate should conduct a full trial into the impeachment articles against Mayorkas, rather than the debate and points of order suggested by Schumer’s unanimous consent request, which would be followed by a likely successful motion to dismiss the articles.

Republican senators took issue with Schumer’s point of order, as agreeing to it would effectively kill the first of the two articles. Several GOP lawmakers proposed motions, which took precedence over the point of order, to adjourn or table the point, among other things. But all GOP motions failed.

After another batch of motions to avoid voting on Schumer’s second point of order, which would deem the second article unconstitutional, the Senate agreed to it. The vote was along party lines 51-49, with Murkowski rejoining the Republicans.