Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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UPDATED 9:48 AM PT – Thursday, April 28, 2022
House lawmakers grilled Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas during his testimony in front of the House Appropriations Committee.
During his testimony Wednesday, Mayorkas claimed the department would not lose operational control of the border in light of Title 42 being lifted.. . and called the current migrant surge a challenge faced by the entire world.
“The challenge congressman of migration is not a challenge the United States faces alone,” he stated. “What we are experiencing is a migration challenge throughout the region, throughout the Western Hemisphere and, in fact, through out the world. And that is why one of the pillars of the plan is to work with countries south of our border, so they manage their borders effectively.”
Additionally, Mayorkas fielded questions about how he will be handling refugees escaping from Ukraine amid the ongoing crisis. According to DHS Secretary, they have begun the implementation of a multipart plan to address that issue.
“For the Ukrainians who have fled Ukraine in a time of a brutal war, we have established a multipart plan,” he explained. “Number one is our traditional refugee processing and we deployed refugee affairs officers to the region to administer that. Number two, the Department of State issued guidance with respect to the availability of visas for Ukrainian nationals who qualify. Third, we announced this past Monday Uniting for Ukraine, a special humanitarian parole program that requires a sponsor here in the United States.”
Mayorkas then went on to outline his plan to implement “regional solutions” to what he claims are the root causes of mass migration.
“And we have to, of course, address the root causes,” he stated. “We have to build safe, humane and orderly pathways. We have to equip and enable countries to enforce their borders, to provide humanitarian relief where it is warranted, to repatriate individuals where it is not.”
Despite his comprehensive plan, House representatives from both sides of the aisle remain skeptical of his handling of the southern border. This hearing came after US Customs and Border Protection reported more than 2 million border encounters since Joe Biden took office with the latest report showing over 221,000 in March alone.
