DHS Secretary’s ‘Border Security’ is a Hall of Smoke and Mirrors

After Title 42 health protocols were lifted at the southern border this month, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “We cannot control the movement of people before they reach the border.”

That’s not strictly true. The U.S. can exert pressure on governments in Mexico and the Northern Triangle to tamp down mass illegal migration, as the Trump administration did.

Truth be told, Mayorkas should have added that his agency isn’t even controlling the movement of people at the border. In fact, he hasn’t been enforcing his own security orders, thus ensuring that illegal aliens continue to surge into the U.S. virtually unabated.

Lately, reporters have been juxtaposing tales of anxious migrants queuing up at the border with vague allusions to “strict new rules,” which purportedly restrict their chances for admittance to America. According to media accounts, migrants are now “essentially” barred from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they did not first seek protection in the countries they traveled through, or “had not applied online.”

Those are some gaping qualifiers, and, sure enough, there’s been no evidence of illegal aliens (“noncitizens” in Mayorkas-speak) being turned away in any appreciable numbers. An unidentified official told Axios News the administration expects “it will be a while before the full impact of the new policies become clear.”

While America waits for clarity, it’s worth remembering Mayorkas’ memorandum to DHS staff back on Sept. 30, 2021. The secretary’s “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law” specifically stated that aliens pose “a threat to border security if: (a) they are apprehended at the border or port of entry while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States; or (b) they are apprehended in the United States after unlawfully entering after November 1, 2020.”

Despite acknowledging illegal aliens’ “threat to border security,” Mayorkas’ DHS has allowed millions into this country, many without so much as a notice to appear in immigration court at some future date. (Removals, meantime, have plummeted.)

When the administration’s catch-and-release policies were challenged in federal court last year, DHS simply shelved Mayorkas’ directive and ramped up a massive (and legally suspect) parole program. Such passive-aggressive behavior has resulted in even more migrants moving in.

Instead of detaining migrants pending any asylum determination – as stipulated by law – the Biden administration is demonstrating its utter lack of seriousness about security and enforcement by seeking yet another reduction in detention budgets.

Credulous media outlets may fall for Mayorkas’ word games and distractions, but legions of prospective “noncitizens” know the score, and so they keep coming.