Overview
- Mayorkas, speaking Tuesday at Politico’s Security Summit, said the administration should have acted sooner on border enforcement.
- He credited June 2024 executive actions and new legal entry programs for a 70–75% drop in crossings, saying they steered migrants away from smugglers.
- He called the asylum system “broken” and said a low bar for claiming credible fear let too many people enter while cases were pending.
- He declined to speculate on whether earlier action would have changed the 2024 election outcome and said only that he would have been “better rested.”
- He said he does not know the data behind reports of lost migrant children and noted he would not judge another cabinet secretary, after years in which he told Congress the border was “secure” and the House impeached him in February 2024.