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Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan said Sunday that he had threatened to leave his post unless he was given more control over his agency. (Patrick Semansky / AP)
Felicia Sonmez
National Journalist in the Washington Post Political Press Team
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan acknowledged on Sunday that the Trump administration had considered sending migrants from Texas to Florida, but finally decided not to do so because it would not have been "a efficient use of resources ".
McAleenan's statement follows an outcry sparked by Florida officials late last week in response to the administration's plans.
"We looked at the situation from a planning point of view: what is the caution here?" Said McAleenan in an interview for CBS News' Face the Nation. "We have stations in Florida, we have stations on the northern border, they are very small stations, they have some officers who patrol their areas, the resources would not be used effectively, but yes, we had to look at all the stations. the options.
McAleenan said John Sanders, the acting US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, made the decision to turn the corner on Saturday. Sanders issued a statement Saturday night stating that CBP had "no plans to transport people under our custody to northern or coastal border facilities," including Florida.
The debate comes as the United States faces a record number of migrant families entering the country along the southern border. The influx of refugees has put a strain on the resources of the US border patrol, whose capacity has been such that the crisis has spread inside the country.
Border patrol authorities say they have apprehended an average of 4,500 people every day along the south-western border, and the number of people detained by the CBP has recently exceeded 17,500.
Last week, local officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties, in Florida, rang the alarm after the Trump administration had announced its intention to send about 1,000 requesters. 39, asylum per month in the counties of the El Paso region. Neither country has the status of sanctuary limiting cooperation with immigration authorities, but both are strongly democratic.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (right), an ally of President Trump, has also spoken out against sending migrants to that state.
"President @realDonaldTrump and I spoke yesterday and confirmed that he did not approve, and would not approve, sending immigrants who cross the border illegally to Florida. That's not going to happen, DeSantis says in a tweet Sunday morning.
The White House has twice tabled a plan to send migrants to cities and sanctuary states – in November and February – in retaliation against the president's political opponents. Both times, the administration officials rejected this idea. Nevertheless, Trump falsely claimed during the election campaign that migrants were being sent to sanctuaries, and had even stated that it was his own "crazy idea" to do so.
In his statement Saturday night, Sanders blamed "misinformation in the press" for being misinformed about CBP projects. McAleenan said on Sunday that Sanders was referring to reports that flights have already taken off for Florida.
McAleenan also said that Trump's suggestion that the government would send migrants to sanctuary cities was false.
"Our transportation is based on operational necessity, the ability to process safely. That's what we do, "McAleenan said. Some migrants have already been transferred from Texas to San Diego, which has a "high-capacity border patrol sector," he added.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that McAleenan had said that he could leave his post unless he was given more control over his agency following an attempt to reshuffle Trump's senior advisor, Stephen Miller. . A Trump assistant compared internal tensions to a "knife fight against immigration".
McAleenan challenged Sunday that he had threatened to leave.
"I did not threaten to quit, no," he said, adding, "I will work to resolve this problem as long as I have this opportunity. No question."
Abigail Hauslohner, Nick Miroff and Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report.
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