Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Wednesday called on Congress to address the “humanitarian and security crisis” at the southern border.
McAleenan, who replaced Kirstjen Nielsen last week, claimed that current asylum and immigration laws, which he stressed were not tough enough, encouraged illegal migrants to cross the border.
“Without action from Congress, criminals will continue to profit from human misery along our border,” the secretary said. “It’s clear that all of our resources are being stretched thin. The system is full and we are beyond capacity.”
He further pointed out that an increased number of border crossings would put greater pressure on law enforcement and local service providers.
“We don’t have room to hold them, we don’t have the authority to remove them, and they are not likely to be able to be allowed to remain in the country at the end of their immigration proceedings,” he said, according to Politico.
The number of arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border, however, is at a record-high level with almost 93,000 arrested migrants in March alone, the highest monthly level since April 2007. Half of those were families, which according to McAleenan presents unique health and safety challenges.
The Trump administration has been pushing for Congress to grant broader DHS enforcement authorities, allowing authorities to detain children for longer than 20 days and to allow unaccompanied minors from Central America to be deported more swiftly.
Although Democrats insist these policies don’t work, on Wednesday McAleenan got the support of Matthew Albence, who last week replaced Ronald Vitiello as the top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.
He said that lately many ICE employees have had to be reassigned to assist with the custody and processing of migrant families at the border, which he stressed came at a great cost.
“This reallocation of resources comes at a significant cost. Criminal aliens, gang members and public safety threats remain at large because [ICE officers] needed to locate and apprehend them have been redirected to process family units and manage the ever-increasing immigration court dockets,” Albence said.
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