CNN’s Pamela Brown Confronts DHS Sec on Leaked Comments: Is Border Patrol ‘At a Breaking Point Right Now?’
CNN’s Pamela Brown grilled Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday about the crisis at the southern border. At one point in the interview, she asked him about audio of him speaking to Border Patrol agents. The audio was leaked to Fox News from a source in the Border Patrol.
“A couple of days ago I was down in Mexico, and I said look, you know, if, if our borders are the first line of defense, we’re going to lose and this is unsustainable,” Mayorkas said on the recording. “We can’t continue like this, our people in the field can’t continue and our system isn’t built for it.”
Speaking with Mayorkas, Brown turned to the recording. “I want to ask you about this taped audio that Fox News has obtained of you speaking of border patrol agents,” she said. “Are we going to lose? Is Customs and Border Patrol at a breaking point right now?”
Mayorkas replied, “We are not going to lose. As I articulated very clearly throughout the day yesterday in every one of my meetings along the border, whether it was with border patrol agents, other law enforcement leaders, civic leaders, members of the community, we have a plan, we are executing our plan, it takes time, but we will not lose.”
Brown responded, “But if this pace continues, how much longer until we are at a breaking point with [Customs and Border Patrol]? What have the agents told you? You were talking to them in person. Did you get the sense from them they feel that way?”
“Well, what I communicated to them, and they very well understood, is the fact that we are not in this alone as the United States government,” the secretary replied. “But this is a regional issue. We are working with the countries of origin not only in addressing the root causes, not only in developing safe, orderly, and humane alternative pathways for people to seek relief under United States law. Not only are we working with those countries and with Mexico in those regards, but we are also working together to interdict irregular migration and to attack the smuggling organizations.”
Watch above via CNN.
