CNN
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Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pushed again Sunday on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s current remarks that President Joe Biden ought to use extra govt authority to take motion on the southern border.
“He couldn’t be extra incorrect,” Mayorkas stated of the Republican governor in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
“As a matter of reality, former President Trump tried to shut the border, and it was enjoined within the courts and by no means noticed the sunshine of day,” the secretary stated, earlier than later including, “The truth is that Congress must act, and President Biden stated that Congress must get a backbone.”
Last week on “State of the Union,” Abbott stated Biden was “not utilizing his govt authority to do any of these issues that Congress has already licensed. The president doesn’t want new legal guidelines.”
Abbott has emerged as one of the top critics of Biden administration in a blame sport between the president, Congress and state officers concerning motion on the border.
Senate Republicans last month blocked a bipartisan border bill – which might have enabled restrictive border measures and was crafted partially by a GOP senator – amid a torrent of assaults on the invoice by former President Donald Trump and prime Home Republicans.
Tensions between Abbott and the federal authorities reached an all-time excessive after Texas state authorities positioned razor wires alongside the US-Mexico border to discourage migrants from illegally crossing into the nation. After the incident, Mayorkas despatched a cease-and-desist letter to Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton, calling these actions “unconstitutional.” In January, the US Supreme Court docket dominated that US Border Patrol brokers could remove the razor wire whereas the state’s authorized problem to the observe performs out.
Mayorkas on Sunday criticized Abbott over what he described because the governor’s refusal to work with the Biden administration to deal with points on the border and over his function in busing migrants to large Democratic-led cities throughout the nation.
“This coming from a person who’s purposefully refusing to coordinate, talk, collaborate with different officers and making an attempt to wreak havoc in different cities and states throughout the nation,” Mayorkas stated of Abbott.
Mayorkas evaded questions on what govt actions the Biden administration is contemplating to deal with points alongside the US-Mexico border. The Homeland Safety secretary insisted that Congress take up laws to reform the immigration system.
CNN reported final month that the White House was considering executive action to limit migrants’ skill to hunt asylum on the US-Mexico border in the event that they crossed illegally – a maneuver harking back to controversial motion from the Trump period and one that will remember to invite fierce backlash from immigration advocates and progressives.
The secretary defended Biden’s visit to the southern border final week after the Nationwide Border Patrol Council, the union that represents Border Patrol brokers, criticized his journey.
“The necessary message that we communicated from Brownsville, Texas, is the truth that Congress must act,” Mayorkas stated. “This method has been damaged for many years, and we’ve a bipartisan answer that can ship much-needed sources and much-needed modifications to the damaged system.
Final month, the US Home, by an especially slim margin, voted to impeach Mayorkas over his dealing with of the southern border, making him the primary Cupboard secretary to be impeached in virtually 150 years.
Requested Sunday by Bash whether or not the US Senate ought to dismiss the fees or whether or not he wished a possibility to defend himself at a trial, Mayorkas demurred.
“I’m going to let the Senate, after all, execute its duties because it thinks greatest within the service of our nation. I’m going to concentrate on work,” he stated.