The following is the total transcript of an interview with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Dec. 22, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I wish to speak to you broadly concerning the surroundings we’re in. It’s a fairly important one. Your potential successor, Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s choose to run Homeland Security, has no regulation enforcement expertise and has by no means labored at an company like this. Have you spoken to her but? And what do you suppose her greatest problem will likely be?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I’ve. I’ve spoken with the governor. We had a really constructive dialog. We are each completely aligned on our dedication to a easy and efficient transition. I care very deeply concerning the well-being of this division, dedicating so a few years to public service, she expressed her dedication to the well-being of this division. She is a governor, so she is aware of how one can lead, and I’m optimistic and hopeful and devoted to her success.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There have been hiccups with transition to date, when it comes to even simply the data that’s being shared due to these lack of signing off on paperwork at sure authorities companies. What is it going like? How easy is it right here?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Here, the transition group has landed on the Department of Homeland Security. We have begun to provide paperwork and supply info to the transition group. I occurred to run into the transition group chief yesterday right here at DHS headquarters and- and we’re working effectively collectively.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But do you’ve got a way but of what issues will likely be like? You stated you are anxious concerning the division. There’s a vow to chop again on bureaucrats. Do you suppose a number of these staff that you simply say you are devoted to will not have jobs in a number of months?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Oh, I hope that is not the case. We are, fairly frankly, a perennially under-resourced division. You know, individuals check out our funds and, and take into consideration how huge it’s, however one has to measure how huge it’s in comparison with what the mission calls for are, and people mission calls for are extremely huge. Our division is a sprawling one. Our mission is awfully various. Of course, the border receives an excessive amount of consideration, however the cyber safety challenges, the prison investigative work that we carry out, the catastrophe response that we execute, maritime safety, our United States Coast Guard, our protecting mission by United States Secret Service. We had been talking earlier of TSA and a lot extra. Our department- the problem for the governor coming in is to handle such a various set of missions, however luckily, she’s going to be capable of depend on terribly devoted and proficient consultants on this division. We can’t afford to lose any.
MARGARET BRENNAN: This is a heightened menace surroundings on the international entrance, on the home entrance, we not too long ago noticed that killing of the United HealthCare division CEO on the streets of Manhattan. Manhattan prosecutors known as it a killing that was meant to evoke terror. Would you take into account him a terrorist? Is this home violent extremism?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, Margaret, it is not for me to touch upon a pending prison case, I cannot do this. First of all, allow us to take a step again and notice the great tragedy. A father of two youngsters, a household man was murdered in New York City in chilly blood, initially. Secondly, you spoke of the heightened menace surroundings, the rhetoric on social media following that, that homicide is awfully alarming. It speaks of what’s actually effervescent right here on this nation, and sadly we see that manifested in violence, the home violent extremism that exists. The menace of it within the United States is without doubt one of the nice menace streams that we should counter. Of course, there’s additionally the specter of international terrorism, in addition to the actions of adversarial nation states.
MARGARET BRENNAN: When you say one thing’s effervescent, what is the nationwide pattern that you simply’re seeing?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I- look now we have been involved concerning the rhetoric on social media for a while–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –And that is in opposition to CEOs, that is in opposition to the federal government, that is in opposition to management.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We’ve seen narratives of hate. We’ve seen narratives of anti-government sentiment. We’ve seen private grievances within the language of violence, accompanying or being part of these narratives, is one thing that we’re very involved about, that, that could be a heightened menace surroundings. I nonetheless am alarmed, although, by the the the heroism that’s being attributed to an alleged assassin of a father of two youngsters on the streets in New York City.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And a number of that appears to be across the healthcare trade and what that firm was doing, it is depersonalized. The sufferer is depersonalized.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: And and the sufferer is an individual–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: And the sufferer is a husband, and the sufferer is a father.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I ask you a few pattern, as a result of usually these items are mentioned in purely political phrases, as political violence, however it looks as if you are saying it is virtually broader.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Oh it’s. It is. It just isn’t purely a political rhetoric. We see a variety of narratives that’s- that basically drive some people to violence, and now we have a accountability to know the menace panorama and see what we will do working with communities to stop that violence from really occurring.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I imply there have been stories in the course of the hurricane aftermath in North Carolina about militias in search of FEMA staff, for federal response staff.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So we needed to pull FEMA staff out of the sphere who had been responding to victims’ wants due to false info that was intentionally disseminated on social media, resembling, ‘the FEMA employee is coming to take your land.’ Absolutely false. They are there at nice private sacrifice to assist others. That’s who they’re. And we needed to pull them from the sphere by motive of that menace surroundings, briefly, albeit, however however impactfully.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That simply reveals a large not simply distrust- however you had been anxious about the specter of violence in opposition to them
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We most definitely had been. And I’ve to let you know, the FEMA worker who’s engaged in a search and rescue mission doesn’t ask concerning the political celebration of the person whom that FEMA worker is rescuing.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, mustn’t.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: That is- and doesn’t, and that could be a rescue operation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We talked about how broad your portfolio is. So I wish to transfer to a different a part of that, the US border. ‘Face the Nation’ has been to the border, toured a number of the federal amenities, and we noticed a few of these young children who got here throughout with out mother and father and with out caregivers. And I do not think- I definitely will not ever neglect that. There had been additionally youngsters who had been separated from their households by the Trump administration. The final report we noticed reveals that Homeland Security reunified simply wanting 800 youngsters with their mother and father. Why is it so onerous to reunite households, and the way a lot unfinished enterprise are you abandoning right here?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So we’re very pleased with the work that we carried out by means of the Family Reunification Task Force, a multi-agency effort that I led right here within the Department of Homeland Security. But there’s extra work to be accomplished. Some of the mother and father who had been eliminated are troublesome to search out. Some are reluctant to come back ahead, anxious that the separation may happen once more. We’re coping with susceptible populations who’ve gone by means of trauma. So there are a myriad of challenges, a few of which now we have been capable of overcome, as you notice, for 800 or so households, however there’s extra work to be accomplished.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How many are left?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: It is unclear, as a result of the- we weren’t left with good information, knowledge was not saved, and in order that was additionally one of many nice challenges that we needed to overcome. We couldn’t have accomplished our work, what we completed, with out the partnership of teams locally that had different connections to separated households.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Non-government companies. ICE was additionally unable to account for greater than 32,000 unaccompanied children who failed to seem in courtroom from 2019 to 2023 in accordance with the report we learn. The incoming border czar, Tom Homan, says these youngsters are being exploited and trafficked. Is that true?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, we–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do ?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Margaret, we definitely have acquired stories of youngsters being trafficked, even these as to whom we all know the place they’re. That is exterior the accountability of the Department of Homeland Security. What we do is we flip youngsters over inside 72 hours, because the regulation requires, to the Department of Health and Human Services, after which HHS locations these youngsters. Of course, we examine instances of trafficking, however there are kids who’re reunited with a mother or father right here within the United States or a authorized guardian, they usually transfer and generally the federal government loses observe. Individuals don’t adjust to the reporting obligations or in any other case, I feel it’s inaccurate to say that each one of them are trafficked or victimized. There are quite a few the explanation why we would lose observe of a person that’s not essentially particular to this administration. That has been a protracted standing problem within the immigration system, one instance of why that system is so damaged, why the period of time in proceedings is unacceptably lengthy and needs to be remedied. Remember, we’re coping with a system that was final reformed in 1996.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So what extra are you able to do to fight the trafficking that’s taking place of a few of these youngsters, or the exploitation of a few of these youngsters, is that as much as Congress as effectively, or can Homeland do extra effectively?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We have accomplished extra. As a matter of truth, our whole worksite enforcement technique has been to focus our prison investigators and our different officers on employers who exploit susceptible people, together with underage people, and reap the benefits of the very fact they that they’re migrants in search of work within the United States and pay them substandard wages, have them employed in substandard working situations and the like. And so that’s the place now we have, I might submit accurately, centered our energies, and we have been unprecedented in that focus and within the success of that focus. We want extra assets. The downside of the-
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s a cash downside?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We want extra personnel. We definitely do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the exploitation of them, are you restricted in your authorities at this level, when the Trump administration guarantees they’ll change it? Can they modify it?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: This was a- this has been an issue that has been a long time lengthy. This just isn’t a brand new downside. I want them great success. I’ll assist them of their efforts to finish the scourge of human exploitation and human trafficking.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So at this level final 12 months, in December of final 12 months, border crossings had been at report highs. Now they’ve dropped to the bottom stage of the Biden administration. How a lot of that drop off is as a result of Mexico is now stopping migrants from even attending to that southern border with the United States?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: That is critically one component of it. It just isn’t the one component of it. The President took decisive motion after politics killed what would have been a very enduring answer to what’s a damaged immigration system, that bipartisan laws that I used to be very proud to be part of would have- would have actually delivered an answer. Because politics killed it, the President took govt motion in June of this 12 months, we started to execute very efficiently and really quickly that govt motion. And that has been a key driver of the- the low variety of encounters at our border we at the moment are delivering to the incoming administration, a southern border at which the variety of people encountered is effectively under the extent skilled in 2019 the final 12 months earlier than the pandemic.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the immigration surge into the US since 2021 has been the biggest in American historical past.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes
MARGARET BRENNAN: That is unimaginable. So–
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Oh, it’s Margaret. It is one component of the best displacement of individuals on the earth since World War Two. This is a phenomenon that has not been distinctive to the southern border of the United States. It- it’s one thing that has gripped your complete hemisphere and the world. When I communicate to our companions from the Five Eyes, our closest allies, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, they increase immigration as the primary challenge of concern to them. This is one thing not distinctive to the United States.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s not and it has great political affect.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: It has an amazing political affect, and that’s the reason we want Congress to behave in the- in the- within the wake of Congress’s failure to behave, the President took govt motion, and subsequently we’re delivering to the incoming administration a border that’s safer than it was in 2019.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the Biden administration, and I feel you’ve got stated to me, one of many very first issues the Biden administration did was ask Congress to behave within the earliest days, after which quick ahead, you had this bipartisan close to miss on a border invoice all that point handed, why wait till 5 months earlier than the US election to place in place these asylum restrictions that did lower off the move? That ended the disaster?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Margaret bear in mind the place we had been when the President took workplace. We had been within the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The prior administration had imposed title 42 which is a public well being authority, and enabled us to expel people, to proceed to expel people on the border, because the prior administration had accomplished. There was great strain to take care of the workings of Title 42 which we did. Remember- and that was strain to take care of Title 42 a bipartisan strain that–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Which was pinned on the CDC as a well being measure. But positive, sure.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: That held till May of 2023 and we ended the workings of Title 42 as a result of this nation had escaped the throes of COVID 19 extra quickly and extra efficiently than any nation within the hemisphere and, fairly frankly, the world. We then turned to Congress and we requested for supplemental funding that was desperately wanted to make our administration of a damaged immigration system work a lot better. We had been denied. We went again to Congress a second time and requested supplemental funding. Denied, regardless of a determined want for it. We then turned to the bipartisan negotiations, which proved profitable, which had been then killed. The results of it, a very terrific answer was killed by irresponsible politics. Looking again now in hindsight, in 2020 if we had recognized that irresponsible politics would have killed what was clearly a meritorious effort and a meritorious end result, maybe we’d have taken govt motion extra quickly.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because Republicans argue on this backwards and forwards over whose job it’s to repair the issue, Congress would argue there was govt authority that might have been used earlier than Congress legislated, they usually level again to the disaster, beginning at day one, when Trump-era immigration coverage was peeled again. Remain in Mexico, the 100 day moratorium on most deportations that was introduced, the halt to wall building. Did these measures, and I do know you were not but in workplace, personally, however did these measures set you up for failure?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Remember one thing, Remain in Mexico is touted as the good panacea. In 2018, and I will likely be approximate in my numbers Margaret, in 2018 there have been roughly 550- 560,000 people encountered on the southern border. Remain in Mexico was applied in January of 2019. In 2019 there have been roughly 960- 970,000 people encountered on the southern border. The pattern traces of migration had been rising fairly exponentially from 2018 to 2019 and that’s mirrored worldwide. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Remember one thing additionally concerning the govt motion that the President took in May- in- in June of this 12 months. We additionally, over time, constructed capabilities that we didn’t beforehand have. Not simply domestically, the variety of amenities that we stood up, the power to move people and decompress areas that had been experiencing surges of people, however our negotiations with Mexico, with different nations in Latin America and all over the world. We at the moment are eradicating or returning extra people in three years than the prior administration did in 4. And we’re doing so not solely better in quantity, however better in pace, due to the negotiations with different nations and to extra nations than has ever been the case. We have been eradicating Chinese nationals who don’t have any lawful foundation to stay within the United States again to the People’s Republic of China for the primary time since 2018 and now we have run quite a few elimination flights to that nation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, why did not we hear extra about these enforcement actions in the course of the election cycle, when immigration was so key?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Margaret, we have been executing on enforcement at an unprecedented stage all through this administration. And ICE simply printed knowledge that evidences that fairly powerfully.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, on that knowledge. So, President Obama was referred to by activists because the deporter in chief, due to the big variety of deportations on his watch. But that knowledge you simply cited reveals deportation of migrants is at a ten 12 months excessive beneath President Biden. A ten 12 months excessive. So what shifted at DHS that- that prompted this deportation of greater than what 200,000 unauthorized migrants from the United States this 12 months. That- that is one of many highest numbers in current years–
SECRETARY MAYORKAS:– Margaret–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — If Congress did not provide the energy, how did you do it?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Margaret, we did it with ability, with technique, and with unflinching dedication to that mission, and let me share with you, I’m an immigrant to this nation, and what this nation gave me drove me to public service. I spent my first 12 years in authorities service as a federal prosecutor, and the conclusion that I’ve lived and the conclusion that defines this nation is the next, that we’re a nation of legal guidelines and a nation of immigrants, and if people would not have a lawful foundation to stay within the United States, we’ll take away them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But it could additionally recommend that there’s the power to do it with out Congress appearing, proper? That’s the draw back of displaying you can also make it work.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes- however Margaret, we made these very spectacular statistics occur. But there may be rather more work to do, and what now we have to do is to make sure that the issue doesn’t proceed. This damaged system must be mounted. And it is not simply to make sure that people who would not have a lawful foundation to stay within the United States are eliminated, however it’s additionally to make sure that we’re offering humanitarian reduction to those that qualify one among our proudest traditions, and that we’re additionally fueling the economic system. Our want for expert labor is one thing that we hear from firms and public officers, no matter celebration affiliation, and but we’re capped on the variety of expert staff that we will introduce into the United States economic system. By figures, by ceiling set in 1996.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re speaking about H-1b visas and expert employee visas, issues like that.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But when it comes to the enforcement actions right here, Goldman Sachs estimates greater than half of the migrants since 2021 entered illegally. Does that sound correct to you? Roughly 5 million individuals entered the US illegally?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Remember, a sure quantity had been encountered on the border. But now we have, as you cited earlier, now we have eliminated, returned and expelled, given the operation of Title 42 in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, a unprecedented quantity, and we proceed to return or take away people. But there isn’t any query, there isn’t any query, and this can be a signal of a damaged immigration system- that people who had been encountered on the border are within the United States, however they’re in immigration enforcement proceedings. One of the issues is that these proceedings take seven to 10 years earlier than they’re resolved, as a result of our immigration courtroom system is so backlogged, and that backlog has been rising 12 months, over 12 months, over 12 months, ever since I can bear in mind and I entered the Department of Homeland Security for the primary time in 2009.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Donald Trump says throughout the first 100 days, they are going to have a surge of assets by means of Congress to hold out what he’s calling mass deportations. The former ICE chief Tom Homan, who used to work with you.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We went again and seemed. He’s praised you. He stated, “Me and Ali did not at all times agree on immigration, however he listened. He’s an excellent American, and he loves this nation.”
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: That is, that’s true. That is-
MARGARET BRENNAN: — So much has changed–
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I like- I like this nation. I’ve labored very carefully with Tom Homan, and I’m very pleased with the work that he and I carried out collectively.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But he stated you had a the place he informed Tucker Carlson, you two had a falling out over transgender coverage and ICE detention amenities, and he was compelled to signal one thing that supplied medical care to them. Is that the way you bear in mind issues and- and that is the one who will likely be a part of finishing up the insurance policies you say should be mounted?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I used to be disillusioned to study of that assertion that is not true.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That wasn’t a falling out between the 2 of you?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: No, I did not have a falling out with- with Tom Homan. We labored very effectively collectively all through my tenure because the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. I used to be disillusioned to listen to that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that simply politics?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I- I can let you know this, it is not true. Whatever it’s, just isn’t true.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have been the recipient of a number of upset over the immigration coverage due to your job. You are the face of it, proper? And the Republican House impeached you. I ponder whenever you depart this workplace, are you involved about your private safety?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Margaret, I’m extremely pleased with the work that this division has accomplished over the previous 4 years as I’ve been privileged to function its secretary. I’m very unhappy to depart the division, and it mirrors the unhappiness I’ve felt every time. I’ve left the federal authorities as a political appointee. I began as a profession appointee. I’ve- I place confidence in the American individuals. That religion is after we see a cold-blooded homicide of a United Health Care govt, it’s- it is rattled, however that is the actions of a- of a person not reflective of the American public and of the democracy through which we dwell. I’m the face- I’m the face of it, and that could be a accountability I willingly assumed once I agreed to take this place.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, it is a query. And why I needed to ask it due to the surroundings we’re in. I wish to ask you about China, if I may, earlier than we go. You stated not too long ago that this huge Chinese hacking often called Salt Typhoon, the hacking of eight telecom firms that siphoned up this metadata, the telephone name information, logs and knowledge for hundreds of thousands, probably of Americans, was accessed. Why hasn’t the US authorities stopped it?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, to begin with, the intrusion is a really important one and a very impactful one and a fully unacceptable one. And the President has demonstrated a powerful response to the People’s Republic of China. It could be very sophisticated–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Rhetorically?–
SEC. MAYORKAS: I’m sorry,
MARGARET BRENNAN: Rhetorically? When he met with Xi Jinping?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, only in the near past, the United States Department of Commerce proposed an motion in opposition to China Telecom. So that is an ongoing state of affairs. It just isn’t static. The intrusion is a really refined one. The telecommunications firms are working very vigorously to remediate it. They are working in partnership with us, with the cyber safety and infrastructure safety company throughout the Department of Homeland Security, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and different companies of the federal authorities. So this can be a partnership in an effort to remediate the state of affairs. It could be very difficult, and we’re very devoted to it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: This is the biggest intelligence compromise, probably in US historical past.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: It is a really severe compromise, and requires very severe motion to remediate and get better from it, and likewise very severe response to it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How did you discover it?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: That just isn’t one thing I can- I can communicate to.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The incoming nationwide safety advisor to Donald Trump, Mike Waltz was on Face the Nation final Sunday and stated the US must go on offense, begin imposing greater prices and penalties to individuals and entities like nations stealing knowledge, but in addition to those that spy on us they’re, “actually, placing cyber time bombs on our infrastructure, our water techniques, our grids, even our ports.” A cyber time bomb. Is that what’s taking place?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: You- we began our dialogue talking a few heightened menace surroundings, and I recognized three vectors, three main vectors, the specter of international terrorism. And clearly we’re keenly centered on the instability in Syria, and whether or not that may create some area for the reemergence of ISIS there. And international terrorism is, in fact, the founding motive for our Department of Homeland Security, the specter of home violent extremism. And we have talked about that and I discussed the actions of adversarial nation states. It is admittedly a unprecedented time now. Adverse nation states have exhibited a willingness to make use of the cyber area in an effort to. To threaten our homeland safety and our nationwide safety. The infiltration, the hack of the telecommunications firms is one instance. We’ve seen vital infrastructure hacked as effectively, and it does require a response, and I’m assured that the incoming administration will likely be vigilant in executing that response.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you set that on the high of the checklist for the incoming Secretary?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Would put that on the high of the checklist. Whether it is on the very high, I’d wish to suppose by means of, however it’s on the high of the checklist most definitely.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Lastly, as you come to the time, as you come to the tip of your time right here, what’s the factor that retains you up at night time?
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Margaret, we- it is not singular. It’s not singular. Our mission area is so huge. Our mission is so various. There are challenges in every space of this division. If you requested me for an embracing concern, it’s the security and safety of the American individuals that’s our dedication, and guaranteeing that that’s preserved and never in any method encroached upon, is our highest obligation, and I’m extremely proud to serve it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, thanks in your time. Thank you,
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Thank you, Margaret.
