Alejandro Mayorkas, who somehow wound up as the Secretary of Homeland Security under the Biden administration, recently spoke at the Aspen Security Forum. Unlike his boss at the White House, Mayorkas agreed to take some questions from the press after concluding his remarks. He was asked about the situation at the southern border and what plans might be in place to address the Biden border crisis. Remarkably, Mayorkas responded by saying that the border “is secure,” though he admitted that we are facing an “historic challenge.” The Secretary managed to deliver these remarks with a straight face, despite the fact that we are currently seeing more than 200,000 illegal border crossings per month. It all seemed like a scene from Princess Bride. Secure? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. (Fox News)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday claimed that the southern border “is secure” – even as Border Patrol agents are facing historic migrant numbers.

Mayorkas spoke at the Aspen Security Forum, where he was asked about the situation at the southern border – which has seen more than 200,000 migrant encounters a month in the last three months.

But, even though he acknowledged the situation is a “historic challenge,” the secretary claimed the border is “secure.”

“Look, the border is secure,” he said. “We are working to make the border more secure. That has been a historic challenge.”

Mayorkas also sought to place blame on Republicans who refuse to consider any new immigration legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship for the more than ten million illegal aliens who are already in the country. He was quoted as saying that he takes issue with “the math of holding the solution hostage until the problem is resolved.”

What does that even mean? The “problem” that needs to be resolved is the unchecked flow of illegal migrants into the country. The solution has been explained to him many times. But how is granting citizenship to ten million illegal aliens the “solution” that’s being “held hostage?” Granting amnesty will only make it even more appealing for illegals to attempt the trip if they know that free citizenship awaits them.

He went on to attempt to explain that there is a difference between “safe” and “secure.” Apparently entrusting your children to coyotes so they can be smuggled across the border is not “safe.” (Thanks for the tip, Mr. Secretary.) He also said that the administration is working to make the border “more secure.” But if it’s already “secure,” how can you make it “more secure?” Does he have a recipe for making water more wet?

Claiming that citizenship for illegals will somehow solve the border crisis is like saying you can end the crisis of sexual assaults in America by legalizing rape. I appreciate the fact that someone from the Biden administration was actually willing to take a question on this subject, but this nonsensical word salad answer isn’t getting us anywhere. It seems abundantly clear that this administration has no plan to address this crisis, primarily because they don’t see it as a crisis. Joe Biden made this happen with all of the changes he made to the previous administration’s immigration policies. The army of migrant children in Mexico wearing t-shirts that say “Biden, please let us in” did not arrive there by accident. This was all done by design.

Not that I expect Mayorkas or Biden to listen now since they have refused to listen since day one, but we already know how to address this situation. Finish the wall. Increase funding and staffing for CBP and ICE, particularly along the border. Expand the immigration courts to process cases more quickly. Renew the arrangements we had with Mexico under Trump. (All of them.) We’ll never get the number of crossings to zero, but we can absolutely get it down much, much lower than 200,000 per month. And we need to do that because this is a legitimate crisis. It’s a test, and the Biden administration is failing this test miserably.