Biden-Harris DHS Sec Mayorkas opposes deportation of illegal immigrants

The Biden-Harris administration's Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared at the Texas Tribune Festival to discuss the border crisis in the US, and specifically with regard to the challenges Texas has faced. When asked directly by PBS NewsHour's Laura Barron-Lopez if he thought deportations were "good policy," he said that he did not believe they were. His department is tasked with deporting those who enter the country illegally and those who do not win their asylum cases and are not permitted to stay in the US.

As to why he believed that deportation was a bad idea, he cited "extreme weather events," as well as there being "elements of a society" that "have pointed to migrants as the source of social ills for which they are not responsible." He compared that perceived sentiment in the US to that of Nazi Germany and their hatred of Jews. "People have died because of that rhetoric," he said, invoking the Hatch Act as to why he would not link former President Donald Trump to that rhetoric.

"So, Donald Trump has said he wants to carry out mass deportations of millions of undocumented migrants living in the United States," Barron-Lopez asked, "and some of his closest, closest advisors have proposed deputizing the National Guard to go into Democratic led states to round up migrants. What do you think of that proposal? How could something like that? How could an operation like that even be carried out?"

Mayorkas had all kinds of reasons that this would not be possible, and used the example of a hypothetical Venezuelan immigrant who arrives at the US-Mexico border. He said that under law, it is not possible to simply send them back to Venezuela, and called out the problem of logistics, including intermediary nations and flights to return them. In Mayorkas' view, that person should be given access to an asylum process, especially if they seem fearful. 

"What exactly does it mean to immediately remove an individual?" Mayorkas opined. "What process will be provided to them with? What resources will mass deportations occur? Where will those individuals be held? What will be the funding for that. What if some of those individuals claim fear under our current laws? What? What process will they be given? What if a judge grants their claim? What if an asylum officer finds that they established a claim of credible fear? There are 30 were funded for 36,000 detention beds or so, give or take. So, where exactly are they held with what funding and what under what conditions? Because there are legal decisions that govern the conditions in which individuals must be detained. There are standards of detention."

The current standard is that when an individual presents at the border and is apprehended, they are given an opportunity to apply for asylum, and released into the United States, where they wait years for their court date. During that time, they are able to get work permits and collect some forms of public benefits and services.

"Forgive me," he said, when Barron-Lopez pressed on, "I was speaking of operational reality. I was talking about practicality. I was not talking about policy. I didn't address the fundamental issue of whether that is good policy."

"Do you wanna say whether or not it's good policy?" She asked.

"Um, it is not good policy," he said. Mayorkas was impeached by the US House but the Senate did not take up the cause.

Mayorkas, who was appointed by President Biden to lead DHS, has been vocal about his interest in securing more opportunities for immigrants from around the globe to enter the US since he came into his position in 2021.

In the March of that year, as Vice President Kamala Harris was appointed the administration's border czar, tasked with handling border security and the "root causes" of illegal immigration, Mayorkas famously spoke from the White House briefing room telling would-be illegal border crossers "we're not saying don't come, we're saying don't come now." More than 2 million illegal immigrants have come every year since then, hitting record highs.