With Title 42 set to expire this week and a tidal wave of illegal immigrants predicted to flood across the U.S./Mexico, the cast of Monday’s CNN This Morning was visibly shocked to hear calls for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be fired for his inability to get the situation under control. Co-host Don Lemon even stepped up to defend President Biden on the border and suggested it was a both-sides problem.
The call for Mayorkas to be fired came from former Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd, who said Mayorkas wasn’t doing everything in his power and was a joke on the national and world stages.
“I think President Biden, to show that there's going to be a change, he has to get rid of all of his officials that were involved in border security. I think that includes Secretary Mayorkas because they have no credibility in the United States, they have no credibility outside the United States,” he told Lemon and co-host Kaitlan Collins, whose eyes went wide at the demand that Mayorkas be sent packing.
Hurt also decried Biden’s policies as more inhumane than former President Trump’s:
And these communities, places like El Paso, these are inhumane policies. I can make an argument that President Biden's policies are more inhumane than Donald Trump's, and Donald Trump's was terrible – it was the worst of any president before him – because you're going to be having thousands of people sleeping on the streets of El Paso, and starting this week, it's probably going to be below 20 degrees. That's an inhumane policy and they need to do more.
Lemon interrupted to allow some time for questions; handing it off to Collins. “Well, I was going to ask you about if Biden has the legal authority to extend Title 42, but you are saying he needs to fire his Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas?” she asked in disbelief.
Hurd insisted, “yes, of course,” Mayorkas should be fired because “this crisis has escalated under him.” The former Congressman also explained that Mayorkas was refusing to use other legal methods, like Title 8, to expel illegal immigrants more swiftly.
“There's other ways to do expedited removal. You also have Title 8 authorities and what a new secretary of Homeland Security should be coming and saying listen, we're going to use Title 8 authorities to the same level that we're using Title 42,” he informed viewers. “This is a title and a policy that has been used for many administrations. And why the Biden administration is not using it to the same level of authority they can, I do not know.”
Lemon took issue with facts damaging to Democrats being spoken on CNN and scoff at the idea that Biden was being inhumane. “You said that, you know, the Trump administration, that the policies were horrible, you think that the Biden administration is worse. But, listen, you're putting on -- basically on this administration,” he whined, blaming both parties:
Well, here’s a question, both Republicans and Democrats have been dealing with this issue for a long time. Republicans have blocked a lot of legislation when it comes to border security. So, shouldn’t it be the Congress and lawmakers? Shouldn’t some of the onus be on them to come together and work to fix this problem instead of using it as a political back and forth and using immigrants as political pawns?
Hurd agreed but noted that “unfortunately, immigration is one of those issues that politicians would rather use as a political bludgeon against each other than solving the problems.” He also lamented that “there's no political will in Congress to” solve the problem.
This defense for Biden’s disastrous border policies was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Chewy and Ring. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN This Morning
December 19, 2022
7:14:13 a.m. Eastern(…)
FMR. REP. WILL HURD (R-TX): And to give context, I think we've all seen the clips of Jeh Johnson, the former Homeland Security secretary under President Obama, who once said during a hearing that if they were seeing 1,000 apprehensions a day, that that would strain the system. That's over the entire system. And just in El Paso, we're seeing 2,000 now potentially going upwards.
This really is a crisis. I think President Biden, to show that there's going to be a change, he has to get rid of all of his officials that were involved in border security. I think that includes Secretary Mayorkas, because they have no credibility in the United States, they have no credibility outside the United States, and people outside the United States think that the U.S. has open borders, which it doesn't.
And these communities, places like El Paso, these are inhumane policies. I can make an argument that President Biden's policies are more inhumane than Donald Trump's, and Donald Trump's was terrible – it was the worst of any president before him – because you're going to be having thousands of people sleeping on the streets of El Paso, and starting this week, it's probably going to be below 20 degrees. That's an inhumane policy and they need to do more.
And one of the other areas that we're seeing, the relationship --
LEMON: Well, Congressman, give us a little time here. I understand you have a lot to say. You said a lot of things here and we want to respond to some of it. But give us a little time here to ask you some questions. Kaitlan, go on, over to you.
COLLINS: Well, I was going to ask you about if Biden has the legal authority to extend Title 42, but you are saying he needs to fire his Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas?
HURD: Yes, of course, but this crisis has escalated under him. There's other ways to do expedited removal. You also have Title 8 authorities and what a new secretary of Homeland Security should be coming and saying listen, we're going to use Title 8 authorities to the same level that we're using Title 42.
Right now, you're not seeing a number of expedited removals that border patrol is legally allowed to do. Expedited removals, where people that don't have the right documentation, that lied about why they were coming into the United States and had come into the country or have been apprehended within 14 days of coming into the country and somewhere within 100 miles of the border. This is a title and a policy that has been used for many administrations. And why the Biden administration is not using it to the same level of authority they can, I do not know.
LEMON: You said -- listen. You said that, you know, the Trump administration, that the policies were horrible, you think that the Biden administration is worse. But, listen, you're putting on -- basically on this administration, you said a lot about it, and the buck does stop with the president.
Well, here's a question, both Republicans and Democrats have been dealing with this issue for a long time. Republicans have blocked a lot of legislation when it comes to border security. So, shouldn't it be the Congress and lawmakers? Shouldn't some of the onus be on them to come together and work to fix this problem instead of using it as a political back and forth and using immigrants as political pawns?
HURD: 100 percent, Don, I agree with you. Right? Like this is -- I've always said that, unfortunately, immigration is one of those issues that politicians would rather use as a political bludgeon against each other than solving the problems. And so, absolutely, we should be streamlining legal immigration. We should be making sure the right technology is on the border to prevent people from coming in illegally. We should be using and focusing all of our foreign aid to address those root causes that are causing people to come here -
LEMON: So, why isn't that happening?
HURD: -- to the United States illegally.
Well, it's not happening because there's no political will in Congress to do that.
And I will say that there's a piece of legislation out there that would help alleviate it. I know it because I helped draft it. It was called the USA Act. And a Republican speaker prevented it from coming to the floor and it would have had 240 votes. But guess what? A Democratic speaker could have picked that same piece of legislation up and moved it and they chose not to do that as well.
(…)
