Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defends Kamala's trip to El Paso - but dodges question over whether she will visit migrant tent camps where children are self-harming and trying to escape
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday it was he who suggested Vice President Kamala Harris pinpoint her border visit in El Paso – rather than the Rio Grande Valley border where the lion's share of detentions are occurring.
He spoke after a Friday border visit by Harris failed to assuage some critics, who asked why she didn't focus her trip on the areas where childhood arrivals have overwhelmed the federal response.
'It was my recommendation to visit El Paso,' Mayorkas told CBS This Morning on Monday. 'El Paso is actually one of the busiest of the nine sectors across the southwest border and it also provides the opportunity to see the full expanse of our work,' said Mayorkas, who accompanied Harris on the trip.
'It was my recommendation to visit El Paso,' DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS, days after Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border, responding to Republicans who asked why she didn't go to the Rio Grande Valley, where apprehensions are higher
'Not only the central processing center, where we encounter migrants, bring them to shelter for transfer to Health and Human Services, but we also were able to visit the port, where we propel lawful trade and travel through that port of entry.'
'So we were able to see the full expanse, and El Paso is quite, quite busy,' Mayorkas added. He noted that U.S. agents have encountered 113,000 individuals at the sector this year – although at the Rio Grande site, the number hit 271,927.
Mayorkas also brushed off questions about why Harris did not visit Fort Bliss, following reports that child migrants are being monitored there for potential self-harm, panic attacks and escape attempts.
Mayorkas accompanied Harris on her trip
He made his comments to CBS This Morning Monday
The military builds constructed six enormous tents to house migrants at Fort Bliss, about 10 miles from where Harris visited
Harris and Mayorkas have directed the secretary of HHS, Xavier Becerra, to visit the Fort Bliss facility. Here Harris and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visit the Paso del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas on June 25, 2021
Agents in the Rio Grande Valley apprehended 271,927 people, compared to 113,824 in El Paso, in May, the data says
Harris is visiting the El Paso processing center during her border trip. According to Border Patrol statistics, the Rio Grande Valley has seen nearly two-and-a-half times more illegal crossings than in El Paso
He said he and Harris had 'directed' Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to visit the facility, and that he was doing so Monday.
'We had quite a bit to see and we were able to meet with the Customs and Boder Protection' officers, as well as immigrant children and cummunity members,' he said.
'It was most instructive.' He called Friday's trip 'extremely successful.'
Mayorkas also echoed a Friday statement by Harris that blamed the border crisis on the Trump administration.
'We inherited a tough situation... We have looked at a system where people have been housed in inhumane conditions over the last many years... In five months, we've made progress,' she said.
She added: ''It is here in El Paso that the previous administration's child separation policy was implemented.'
Said Mayorkas: 'We inherited a system that was entirely dismantled, and we've had to rebuild it from scratch which we are very well underway in doing.'
A number of Republicans, who had pressed Harris to go to the border after President Biden put her in charge of looking at 'root causes' of migration, questioned why Harris had not gone to the Rio Grande Valley.
Former Trump Department of Homeland Secretary head Chad Wolf said: 'While it's certainly positive that she is taking this step, I am disappointed that she is not going to the Rio Grande Valley – the very epicenter of this crisis.
'Instead, she is going to El Paso, a metropolitan area 800-1,000 miles away from the RGV. Hopefully, Harris' trip will be a working visit, not just border security tourism.'