'This Week' Transcript 5-14-23: Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas and Rep. Michael McCaul

Interview

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Jon, good morning.

In fact, over the past two days, the United States border patrol has seen an approximately 50 percent drop in the number of people encountered at our southern border as compared to the numbers earlier this week before Title 42 came to an end midnight on Thursday.

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Jon, we have been preparing for this transition for months and months, and we've been executing on our plan accordingly. And our plan is very straightforward, there is a safe, lawful and orderly way to reach the United States and seek humanitarian relief, and that is through the lawful pathways that we have expanded under President Biden's leadership.

And then there is a dangerous way to arrive at our southern border in the hands of ruthless smugglers. We have to incentivize the use of the lawful pathways and disincentivize placing people's lives in the hands of smugglers, and we are doing that.

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It certainly is. As a matter of fact, we've already removed thousands of people who have arrived at our southern border. We have -- we are enforcing our traditional immigration enforcement authorities under Title 8 of the United States code. And we've also issued a rule that provides that if one arrives at the southern border without either accessing the lawful pathways we've made available to them or seeking relief in one of the countries through which they have traveled, then they will have a higher threshold to meet to make a successful asylum claim.

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That is what the law provides.

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Well, no. So, the sequence is as follows. We have already removed thousands of people.

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If they try again, then they are met with the five-year ban and potential criminal prosecution.

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We are. We have an obligation to comply with that ruling. We respectfully disagree with the -- with the judge. We think it's a very harmful ruling when, in fact, our border patrol stations become overcrowded, it is a matter of the safety and security of people, including our own personnel, not just the vulnerable migrants, to be able to release them. And this is something that administration after administration has done.

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So, we released a number because of the surge that we experienced before Title 42 came --

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-- came to an end.

Now with the 50 percent drop in the number of encounters at our southern border, we are executing our consequence regime exactly as planned.

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We respectfully disagree with the judge's interpretation of the law, his characterization of our actions. And we intend to litigate the matter. And I defer to the Department of Justice in that regard.

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Absolutely and correct. Disagree with every aspect of that statement.

This is not an asylum ban. We have a humanitarian obligation, as well as a matter of security, to cut the ruthless smugglers out. That is -- that is a responsibility of government. And we are doing that. And it is not --

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And, Jon, it is not a ban at all.

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Absolutely not.

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No, that is -- that is -- that is not actually.

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Yes. So, first of all, President Biden has led the greatest expansions of lawful pathways ever. What our rule provides is that an individual must access those lawful pathways that we have made available to them. If they have not, then they must have sought relief in one of the countries through which they have traveled and been denied.

And if they haven't done either, it's not a ban on asylum, but they have a higher threshold of proof that they have to meet. That is a resumption of ineligibility that can be overcome. It is not a ban.

And so, I disagree with that in every regard.

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I -- Vice President Biden -- Vice President Harris reached out to me earlier this week. That effort is a years-long effort and Vice President Harris has led the investment of more than $3 billion in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

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Absolutely. You know, that effort began in the Obama/Biden administration. It was terribly taken down during the Trump administration. And Vice President Harris has led an extraordinary effort to address the root causes of why people flee their homes in the first instance.

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Violence, poverty, corruption, authoritarian regimes, extreme weather events, persecution and the like.

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Thank you, Jon.

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