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WASHINGTON (AP) – Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas said on Tuesday that footage of what appeared to be border patrol officers on horseback rounding up migrants trying to cross the southern border had “horrified” him, but he did not call the new influx of migrants there. crisis.
Mayorkas told CNN that “any mistreatment or abuse of a migrant is unacceptable” and added that “the images I observed have deeply disturbed me”. But he wouldn’t say explicitly whether they reflected mistreatment or abuse, relying instead on a promised investigation.
“It defies any values that we seek to instill in our people,” Mayorkas said, adding that the department would deal with the situation “with all force” once the investigation is completed.
The Office of Professional Accountability is leading the investigation and will have full-time field staff to monitor the situation in the border town of Del Rio, Texas, which has seen an influx of thousands of Haitian migrants fleeing a volatile situation in their home. country and attempting to enter the United States through Mexico.
More than 6,000 Haitians and other migrants have been withdrawn from an encampment in Del Rio, and Mayorkas has predicted a “dramatic change” in the number of migrants in the next two to four days as the withdrawal process continues.
The latest increase in border migration has prompted Republicans to renew their attacks on Democrats for what they say is a failure to resolve a U.S. border crisis. But on CNN, Mayorkas declined to call the situation a “crisis”, saying only that it was a “heartbreaking situation” and a “huge challenge”.
“I am in no way diminishing the humanitarian problem he presents, but I want to be clear that we have a plan to address it,” he said.
Mayorkas said 600 homeland security workers, including coast guards, were brought to Del Rio. He said he asked the Department of Defense for help with what may be one of the fastest, largest-scale deportations of migrants and refugees from the United States in decades.
Speaking from Del Rio on Monday, Mayorkas warned Haitians not to come to the United States, noting that a temporary extension of deportation protections for Haitians has been extended until July 29, these protections will not be ‘apply more to new migrants.
“If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned. Your trip will not be successful and you will endanger your life and that of your family, ”he said.
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