Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday that a significant number of Haitian illegal immigrants who had amassed along the U.S.-Mexico border last week are being released into the United States.
About 12,400 out of 17,000 Haitians are having their cases heard by immigration courts, Mayorkas said, adding that about 5,000 are being processed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Only approximately 3,000 are in detention, he said.
“Approximately, I think it’s about ten thousand or so, twelve thousand,” Mayorkas told “Fox News Sunday” when he was asked about the number of Haitian illegal aliens who have been released into the interior of the United States. The number could rise as 5,000 more cases are processed, he remarked further.
Mayorkas added that the figure of those being released “could be even higher” and added that the “number that are returned could be even higher.” Striking a defensive tone, Mayorkas said, “What we do is we follow the law as Congress has passed it.”
“Legislative reform is needed,” he said, adding that the U.S. “immigration system is broken.”
The Department of Justice in 2017 previously estimated that about 43 percent of illegal aliens released into the U.S. miss their immigration court hearings. When asked about what will happen to the 12,000 who were released in the past week, Mayorkas said that “it is our intention to remove” those aliens.
“We have enforcement guidelines in place that provide that individuals who are recent border crossers who do not show up for their hearings are enforcement priorities, and will be removed,” Mayorkas said.
Last week, more than 15,000 Haitians congregated underneath a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, and essentially constructed a shantytown before numerous local officials sounded the alarm that a humanitarian crisis was brewing.
DHS officials, including Mayorkas, on Sept. 24 said that the encampment under the bridge was cleared out. A day later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that the Texas border crossing will be partially reopened.
The agency also said it is planning to continue flights to Haiti throughout the weekend, ignoring criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some progressive groups.
The number of people at the Del Rio encampment peaked last weekend as migrants driven by confusion over the Biden administration’s policies and misinformation on social media converged at the border crossing. While Mayorkas and other White House officials have asserted that the border is closed, Republicans have said that the administration’s decisions to rescind a number of Trump-era immigrant orders have triggered a surge of illegal immigration.
All the while, Mayorkas and other senior officials have dedicated a significant amount of time in news conferences condemning some Border Patrol agents who were seen on horseback near Haitians who illegally crossed the border. The photographer who shot those pictures last week said that the agents were not whipping the migrants, as some officials and Democratic lawmakers had claimed.
“Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses,” photographer Paul Ratje told local station KTSM, explaining the situation on the ground.
“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” he said, referring to the agents. “He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
scam/spam. Don’t post these on this site!
Mayorkas is clueless! We already have immigration laws in place. Problem is, the Biden Administration will not let our immigration officers do their job. Biden erased the immigration legislation passed under the Trump administration to curb illegal aliens from entering the U. S.
Thank you for your honesty. I know you are having to abide by the rules you are given and I thank you for clarifying the border crossing event that some Democrats turned into political lies. It is sad what the two parties are doing to this country.
This unacceptable. These demoncrates are dead set on the destruction of my country. It’s way past time to put a stop to their madness by any means necessary
The whole of Biden’s administration wouldn’t know a law if they saw one. There needs to be news articles about how much these illegals are costing in food stamps, healthcare and housing. Where is this money to provide free stuff for them coming from? The government insists I pay my for share? For what? A lawless administration and a country full of illegals! Are u you kidding me! Joe could care less about regular middle class people he is doing everything he can to destroy it
This Biden clown show mirrors the Carter clown show more
Since when do courts reward “dirty hands?” Doesn’t the fact they entered the country illegally mean they have “dirty hands?”
Biden should have left ALL of what President Trump accomplished for four years, COMPLETELY AS IT WAS. Not change a single policy. Our REPUBLIC would be humming along and would have continued to improve. Even with this PURPOSELY spread CHINA Flu epidemic. Biden and Harris, Pelosi and Schumer should all be held accountable and pay a heavy price. As well as his ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION, including the so called Media. They are TREASONOUS FASCISTS as far as I’m concerned. Not to mention PARASITES
We cannot take 4 years of the Biden clown show.
Who is responsible for transporting these Haitian illegals off of the island and then depositing them at our southern border.How exactly does this happen? Who is in charge of this disgusting clown show ? CPB on horseback should be the least or their concerns. They should be ecstatic there aren’t men with rifles there to meet them.We are a sovereign nation…I am truly exhausted by all this BS.
The immigration system wasn’t broken les than a year ago.
Biden “strategy”….. send 300 or so back to Haiti for appearance. Then allow 12,000 illegally into our country. The remaining 2,000 or so “process” into our country, again for appearance purposes. Problem solved.
How did 15,000 hatians cross the gulf of Mexico and 350 miles of northern Mexico to arrive at Del Rio Texas? Someone arranged the transportation and fed them along the way. Who is behind this?
First off, is it only me or have others seen the comments turned OFF for about a week now?
Anything Mayorkas says, assume the opposite… Mr. Mayorkas has repeatedly outright lied about what is really going on at the southern border or at a minimum distorted the facts, continuously…
Mr. Mayorkas says the southern border is closed, oh really, please explain the 200,000 plus illegal immigrants from around the globe walking right across the southern border into this nation monthly.
No mention of it in this article: What’s up with the Haitians being flown to GITMO, which incidentally is directly across from Port O Prince, Haiti…? Why are these Haitians NOT being tested for Covid?
The southern border patrol agents on horseback were simply doing there jobs. ICE & Border Patrol are completely overwhelmed because Joe Biden has rescinded everything Trump had put in place…
Enough is enough already, the Maricopa County audits revealed the OVERWHELMING election fraud found & once again MSM perpetuating a complete lie on the results…Arizona needs to DECERTIFY now with arrests…It is GAME OVER & yes they are in PANIC MODE, the TRUTH has been revealed…Next up, the state of Georgia, FULL FORENSIC audits are coming…
Bill on the Hill… :~)
“Virus bomb” since 1-20 into US.
Whole No America has virus X other diseases & crime, drugs
I’m waiting for somebody to explain to me how 2 to 3 million peons a year helps the country.
Congressional hearings, as if they really took them seriously, should ask the following quesions of Mayorkas.
1) Where are these people at?
2) Who is paying for their care?
3) Have they ever been vetted for their background, health conditions, planned living arrangements, etc.?
4) Have they been tested for Covid-19?
5) Have they been vaccinated?
6) How long are they staying in this country?
There are many more questions that the State Department, the Boarder Patrol, the Homeland Security Department and the Justice Department have to answer to for this chaos. They are all in this together. How about O’Biden? What verifiable details would he even be able to provide to the American public? This is not a news story that has an end….this should discussed daily until the laws are followed. This is treasonist behavior by our government that should be here to protect us.
I don’t care who you are or where you came from , come here legally or not at all, we need to know who’s coming here, we need to know your health records, your criminal records. and your work record. The last thing that we need in America is more people sucking off the system or committing more crime and and molesting our young children, The Government has enough of those kinds of people
Why didn’t Biden mandate a vaccine shot for each of those ant the thousand of others they let into our country? Such an ignorant man and his ignorant administration!
We were recently asked HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO DEPORT THE MILLIONS OF ILLEGALS THAT Obama/Biden administrations allowed to infiltrate America?
That deportation initiative should not go away, and the waving of the magical amnesty wand should not be allowed. Let these people go make their respective countries great again.
ALL illegal’s and anchor people should be sent out of America and get in line if they want back in.
Cheater’s not welcome. Can’t be trusted.
I hope they all went to Delaware.
Here’s one way to look at it. Let them in and oversaturate the Labor Market. Wages hit rock bottem,maby they will get hungry and go home. Kyle L.
Also do a story on the FOIA Tom Cotton did about the sexual abuse of children being held with no parents. Also, the admission by this fraud administration on how many thousand children were ‘lost’ from detention at the border. Sure seems like the Fed’s are conducting child trafficking to me. I have no tolerance for illegal invaders, but no child deserves sexual abuse and or abduction via our govt or anybody.
Check out Glen Beck’s latest. He does an interview with a one Tom Bressman, an author who has spent a lot of time in Central America, he is currently in Costa Rica…According to his sources & people on the ground down there, The Haitians that were under the Del Rio, Texas bridge made the hike up from Chile. Many of them left Haiti years ago to find a better life in Chile, which strangely enough was far better than living in Haiti. They have been waiting patiently for some years now for the US border to open up, as Joe Biden as done. They made their move now to enter America, but under FALSE pretenses of taking flight from Haiti & are seeking asylum…The majority of these Haitians are middle class people that made a new life in Chile, but knowing full well life in America would be ( 10 ) times better than living in Chile & here they are…The violence on the busses hauling them out of there is because they got word the busses were taking them to airports to fly them back to Haiti, the very place they did indeed escape from by moving to Chile…So beyond that, what does it all mean? The number of Haitians was around 15000 people all said & done & many have been processed into our nation too…
All of this pails in comparison to the 200,000 plus illegal immigrants flowing across the southern border, month in month out…
SHS, Mayorkas can’t be trusted, everything he says is an outright lie or is a complete distortion of the facts…
Bill on the Hill… :~)
Biden’s political integrity is going to cause this Nation great harm and will last well past the term of his office as POTUS.
For the benefit of a relative few people in power to become extremely wealthy, the U.S. as it was intended and mostly as we know it is being sold out to Socialist and Communist factions. While I am a believer that our mortal lives are but a brief moment of our spiritual existence, it would be nice for me to leave this mortal Universe feeling that evil has not won out in my lifetime.
They come here with nothing and are handed everything the second they cross the border, My sister lives below poverty level and gets nothing from the drimrat gov’t catering to the illegals.
My confusion comes from confirmation of the lies, fraud, money laundering, etc. and NOTHING happens to any of the leaders involved.