‘Not … really working’: ‘Morning Joe’ host presses Alejandro Mayorkas about dangerous migrants entering US

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski on Wednesday questioned Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about reporting of potentially dangerous migrants illegally crossing the southern border into the U.S.

President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order that seeks to limit the number of daily asylum seekers at the border, but these migrants have reportedly been released in the U.S. while their claims are pending, and ISIS-linked migrants have reportedly also entered the country. Brzezinski on “Morning Joe” asked Mayorkas about NBC’s reporting, suggesting Biden’s executive order is not working as it is not stopping many migrants coming to the country in “the way they shouldn’t.”

WATCH:

‘Not … Really Working’: ‘Morning Joe’ Host Presses Alejandro Mayorkas About Dangerous Migrants Entering US pic.twitter.com/8eaRq6JBzQ

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“The two issues here I want to ask you about, the first is NBC News reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has identified over 400 immigrants who have come to the U.S. from central Asia and elsewhere as subjects of concern and some even affiliated potentially with an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network,” Brzezinski said. “That’s number one, and then number two, reporting from NBC News that the administration is still releasing illegal crossers inside the U.S. to live while they pursue asylum claims, that it’s not officially really working and … there’s still a lot of folks coming through here the way they shouldn’t.”

“Well, if I may correct you in a number of regards. Number one with respect to the people from central Asia, we have no evidence that they are individuals plotting to harm the United States,” Mayorkas said. “That is inaccurate. It’s very important to note that the safety and security of the American people are our highest priority. We screen and vet individuals at the time of encounter. If we learn of derogatory information, we take enforcement action. We are proceeding with extreme caution here in the service of the security and safety of the American people, number one.”

DHS flagged more than 400 immigrants entering the U.S. from Central Asia and other regions as “subjects of concern” based on a human smuggling group linked to ISIS transporting them, three officials told NBC.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents recently arrested six Russian nationals hailing from Tajikistan with suspected terrorist ties in a nationwide operation spanning New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, the New York Post first reported.

There have been at least six million southern border encounters during Biden’s presidency. The president’s executive order does not seem to have impacted the pace of illegal immigration thus far, according to sector reports, internal data, and local officials, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

“Number two, the number of individuals whom we’ve released into immigration enforcement proceedings subsequent to the president’s proclamation has dropped significantly, but, remember, that our detention capacity and this is not specific to our administration,” Mayorkas added. “This has been historic ever since the 90s when I was a federal prosecutor, our detention capacity is not sufficient to meet the number of people we encounter, and, therefore, we have to release people into the United States when they are in immigration enforcement proceedings and we put them on alternatives to detention when that is necessary from an enforcement perspective.”

“And so we have a number of procedures to ensure the safety and security of the American people. Fundamentally, we’re operating within a broken immigration system,” he said.

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