During the Texas Tribune Festival, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas addressed the ongoing U.S. border crisis, particularly the challenges facing Texas.
In a conversation with PBS NewsHour’s Laura Barrón-López, Mayorkas expressed his belief that deportations are not good policy, despite his department being responsible for enforcing deportation laws.
When asked why he opposed deportations, Mayorkas pointed to factors like “extreme weather events” and social dynamics in which migrants are scapegoated for problems they did not cause.
He drew a controversial comparison to Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews, saying that harmful rhetoric has led to deaths. Although he invoked the Hatch Act, which limits political commentary by government officials, Mayorkas refrained from directly linking this rhetoric to former President Donald Trump.
Barrón-López questioned Mayorkas about Trump’s proposal for mass deportations, which includes potentially using the National Guard to round up undocumented migrants in Democratic-led states.
Mayorkas explained the logistical and legal challenges of such a plan, using the example of a hypothetical Venezuelan migrant at the U.S.-Mexico border. He emphasized that under U.S. law, it is not feasible to simply deport someone to Venezuela, as intermediary nations and other complexities come into play.
Mayorkas detailed