ABC host Martha Raddatz grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the Biden administration’s addressing illegal immigration along the U.S. southern border Sunday, questioning if the volume of crossings will drop.
Mayorkas appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss the June 4, 2024 immigration executive order from President Joe Biden which seeks to pause new asylum requests if a seven-day daily average of 2,500 is recorded, resuming when the seven-day daily average drops to 1,500. Raddatz began by questioning Mayorkas on the executive order, asking if his prediction off a the drop in numbers is “really” expected.
“President Biden said, ‘This ban will remain in place until the number of people trying to enter illegally is reduced to a level that our system can effectively manage,’ meaning, as we said, that average of 1,500 encounters or less over a period of 14 days. We said that has never happened. Do you really expect that to happen in the coming months or before Election Day?” Raddatz asked.
“Martha, it is. 1,500, an average of 1,500 individuals encountered over a seven-day consecutive period. We are driving to that and that’s not all we’re doing. We are also communicating throughout the region about the lawful pathways, we are driving people to use— ” Mayorkas said.
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