Eight of the Biggest Failures of Mayorkas' Leadership of DHS
Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s tenure as the agency lead has been marred by a series of policy missteps and blunders that contributed to a historic migrant border crisis impacting communities across the country.
During his tenure, the Secretary’s policy missteps led to record profits for drug and human trafficking organizations, record arrests of criminal migrants and gang members, and sadly, contributed to record line of duty deaths for Border Patrol agents. Lax enforcement strategies led to a surge in migrant deaths and the record-breaking influx of unaccompanied migrant children.
Mayorkas’ policies for Immigration and Customs (ICE), the DHS agency charged with interior enforcement of immigration laws has all but neutered ICE agents’ ability to arrest migrants solely based on their illegal presence within the United States.
A recent addition to the list includes perhaps the most significant lapse in Secret Service protection protocols in the agency’s history.
The latest gaffe was revealed on Wednesday when two men posing as DHS Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) employees were arrested for participating in a scheme to perhaps infiltrate the United States Secret Service — an agency that also falls under the Mayorkas’ DHS umbrella.
According to an affidavit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the men, Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, managed to infiltrate the tight circle of four Secret Service agents over a lengthy time period. A witness reports seeing one of the men in the area as early as 2020. Beginning in February 2021, according to the affidavit, Secret Service agents began accepting gifts and gratuities from the pair. The agents, one of whom is currently assigned to the protection detail for First Lady Jill Biden, accepted free apartments, smartphones, law enforcement surveillance technology and equipment, and other favors from the duo.
In the latest case development, Secret Service agents assigned to the president and vice president’s security detail may be involved as well according to a report in the New York Post.
Investigators have yet to reveal whether the pair acted alone or as part of a foreign government-sponsored intelligence-gathering operation. The passport of Haider Ali showed recent visits to Pakistan and Iran. As their scheme unfolded, ultimately Taherzadeh and Ali were able to compromise the security team for the most guarded officials in the United States.
Unlike Mayorkas’ swift condemnation of Border Patrol agents on horseback wrongly accused of whipping migrants during the Haitian migrant crisis, the secretary remained silent on the latest incident under his watch. He has thus far not condemned the unethical acts of the Secret Service agent, reportedly acknowledged by them in the affidavit, nor has he promised a quick investigation and consequences for those involved in perhaps endangering the first lady, the vice president, or the president.
Mayorkas’ series of blunders and missteps are quickly piling up and include noteworthy record-breaking statistics that seem to run contrary to the responsibilities bestowed upon him as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Those responsibilities include overseeing efforts to counter terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage our borders while facilitating trade and travel, enforcing and administering our immigration laws, safeguarding and securing cyberspace, building resilience to disasters, and providing essential support for national and economic security – in coordination with federal, state, local, international and private sector partners.
1: MIGRANT CROSSINGS
Deliberate policy decisions made by Mayorkas since his confirmation in February of 2021 led to the highest migrant apprehension totals along the southwest border in more than 20 years. In 2021, more than 1.9 million migrants were apprehended entering the country illegally. More than 500,000 migrants managed to elude apprehension during the same timeframe.
Among the migrants apprehended during the year was a 21-year old Saudi Arabian national suspected of being a potential terrorist, according to DHS. Shortly after an announcement of the arrest appeared on social media, all evidence of the announcement was scrubbed by the agency within days. Although most apprehensions involve migrants entering the United States for economic purposes, the agency cannot attest to the identity or intentions of the 500,000 migrants who were not intercepted by DHS during the year. Nor will the agency release details of arrests involving any migrants found to be on the terrorism watch list.
2: CARTEL PROFITS
With the unprecedented increase in migrant crossings, human traffickers, many associated with Mexican cartels who also control the drug smuggling industry likely made record profits under Mayorkas’ watch. Based on the agency’s internal documents, cartels engaged in human trafficking have netted nearly $1 billion in smuggling fees per month in 2021.
In November, according to agency records, 42,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized by Customs and Border Protection agencies eclipsing any previous one-month total in DHS history. Other narcotics, such as fentanyl have been seized at record levels in cities across the country prompting an outcry from ten Republican governors who met in Texas in October to discuss the border crisis.
3: CRIMINAL MIGRANT AND GANG MEMBER ARRESTS
In August 2021, with only six months at the helm, Mayorkas’ DHS personnel saw a 265% increase in the arrest of criminal migrants and organized gang members. By that time, nearly 9,000 criminal migrants had been arrested — up from 2,438 for all of 2020. The term “criminal alien” is not used by Border Patrol to refer to migrants with only immigration violations. It is reserved for those with convictions for state and federal crimes like murder, rape, sexual assault, burglary, robbery, narcotics, and others.
4: BORDER PATROL LINE OF DUTY DEATHS
The decisions concerning the limitations placed upon the use of the COVID-19 Title 42 emergency authority at the border placed not only the American public at risk but proved to have a catastrophic effect on the Border Patrol workforce. Agents are expected to routinely work in grossly overcrowded facilities. Under the direction of Secretary Mayorkas, more Border Patrol agents died in the line of duty than in any other year in the history of the Border Patrol.
Of the 15 agents who died in the line of duty in 2021, 13 died as a result of COVID-19. Two were killed in vehicle-related accidents. The record-breaking line-of-duty deaths eclipse the previous record set in 1998 when six Border Patrol agents died while on duty.
5: MIGRANT DEATHS
The border crisis under Mayorkas’ watch also led to an increase in migrant deaths in many parts of the southwest border. The total migrant deaths recorded by the Border Patrol, which only includes migrant remains recovered by agents, is not a statistic the agency is willing to release to the public. One federal law enforcement official, not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas eight migrants drowned in one two-week period in March 2022 in a single Border Patrol sector. Other sources report two additional migrant deaths during the same time frame.
In Brooks County, Texas, known for the significant level of migrant deaths recorded each year, migrant deaths increased more than 280 percent in 2021 when compared to 2020. At least 25 migrants have died in this single county 80 miles inland from the border this year.
6: UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT CHILDREN
On another front, the agency took direct steps to eliminate the applicability of the CDC Title 42 emergency expulsion order to unaccompanied migrant children. In 2021, more than 146,925 unaccompanied migrant children were apprehended at the border, a 340% increase from the year before Mayorkas assumed the helm of DHS. Most of these children were released to sponsors within the United States. The volume was such that the emergency intake shelters were hastily opened to house the migrant children in numerous cities across the United States. In one month alone during 2021, nine such shelters were opened by the Department of Health and Human Services to accommodate the onslaught of unaccompanied migrant children. There are more than 10,500 unaccompanied children in federal custody awaiting release into the United States as of Friday.
7: HAITIAN MIGRANT CRISIS
As Mayorkas’ carried on business as usual inside the beltway, thousands of mostly Haitian migrants were allowed to cross the border at will and construct a shantytown under the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas. Breitbart Texas broke the story and covered the gradual buildup of migrants in the city.
The first reporting on the incident occurred on September 9, 2021, announcing 500 migrants being detained under the bridge in shelters the migrants constructed themselves due to overcrowding in Border Patrol facilities. By September 15, 5,000 had arrived without a federal response from Mayorkas.
The Secretary told reporters when asked why it took so long for the administration to respond adequately to the situation, “the volume was rather sudden, rather dramatic, rather quick.”
On September 16, the count had risen to 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants. Over the next three days, the count reached nearly 15,000, at which time the Secretary finally began to send additional federal resources to the area.
The crisis negatively impacted residents in the area after international ports of entry in the city were shut to all legitimate traffic to and from Mexico because of the situation. State and local authorities were left to manage an untenable situation for weeks without significant federal resources to handle the immense challenges of a migrant swell that grew to half the size of the local community.
Upon arrival to the city, Mayorkas proudly exclaimed during a press conference near the camp “our borders are not open”.
8: ICE INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT
In September, Mayorkas finalized his Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law. The new policy professes a founding principle that recommends prosecutorial discretion as a cornerstone stating:
“A principal feature of the removal system is the broad discretion exercised by immigration officials. Federal officials, as an initial matter, must decide whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all,” according to the guideline.
The policy places an emphasis on the most serious of violations, including terrorism or espionage offenses. Threats to public safety are also included for violent offenses but include mitigating factors that may tilt the scales in favor of declining enforcement on such offenders. The list includes advanced or tender age, length of time in the United States, mental condition contributing to criminal conduct, or a physical or mental condition requiring care or treatment.
Also included in the list in favor of declining is status as a victim of a crime, or victim, witness, or party in legal proceedings, the impact of removal on family in the US, whether the noncitizen may be eligible for humanitarian protection or other immigration relief or military, other public service of the noncitizen or their immediate family, time since an offense and evidence of rehabilitation, and if the conviction was vacated or expunged. There are almost twice as many factors listed in the policy that lean toward declining an enforcement action than there are in favor of pursuing an arrest of a migrant.
Migrants considered a threat to border security are also included as a priority for apprehension and removal only if apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States or they are apprehended in the United States after unlawfully entering after November 1, 2020. The policy implies that there is an existing legal amnesty protecting migrants who entered the country prior to November 1, 2020. There is no such law.
Within a mere 14 months of assuming his position, Secretary Mayorkas has few agency records left to break other than those he has managed to set during his tenure. Meanwhile, missteps within the agency continue to mount.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
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