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DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has defended the timing of President Biden’s recent executive order addressing illegal immigration at the border and has blamed past inaction in Congress.

On Sunday, Mayorkas explained why the administration waited four months after a bipartisan border security deal failed in the Senate before taking action. He said, “Let’s look at the timeline. On day one of his administration, President Biden sent Congress a piece of legislation. Title 42, the public health order, was in place until May of 2023. We implemented a regulation that restricted asylum, and then we pressed Congress to resource our department in August with a supplemental funding bill. That did not succeed. Then in October, we sought congressional action, and then we started the very difficult work of bipartisan negotiation with Republican and Democratic senators.”

When ABC news anchor Martha Raddatz pressed about the four-month gap again, Mayorkas responded, “Martha, the bipartisan deal was rejected once. We pressed forward again. It was rejected a second time. And then we developed this and have implemented it, and we are at an early stage. And let’s not minimize the significance of this move and the significance of operationalizing it. And it requires the cooperation of other countries, which we have secured. What we need is congressional action. We cannot resource the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Justice with additional personnel. We need Congress to legislate.”

This development comes after President Biden announced new executive action aimed at turning away migrants seeking asylum who cross the southern border illegally during high volumes of daily encounters. This order, set to be enforced when the seven-day average of daily border crossings exceeds 2,500, is being implemented immediately.

According to data obtained by Customs and Border Protection, the United States has recorded 1,520,502 encounters with migrants who have illegally entered the US at the southern border (data is from 1/1/24 – 4/15/24).