About 12,000 Haitian migrants who were part of a massive camp of illegal immigrants near the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas, have been released into America, U.S. Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday.
Mayorkas said that in addition to about 12,400 people whose cases have been heard by immigration judges, another 5,000 are being processed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Only about 3,000 of those in the mass camp of illegal immigrants are in detention, he said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
About 2,000 illegal immigrants who were part of the mass camp have been returned to Haiti, according to NPR.
“Approximately, I think it’s about ten thousand or so, twelve thousand,” Mayorkas told Fox News when asked on Sunday how many illegal immigrants had been released.
“It could be even higher. The number that are returned could be even higher. What we do is we follow the law as Congress has passed it.”
Released? Where are they going? https://t.co/rjSt8N4PrO
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) September 22, 2021
Mayorkas said illegal immigrants “are monitored by us,” and that officials “ensure their appearance in court as the law requires.”
Host Chris Wallace noted a Department of Justice statistic that about 44 percent of those who are supposed to return for immigration hearings never show up.
Mayorkas said these illegal immigrants are different.
“We have enforcement guidelines in place that provide the individuals who are recent border crossers who do not show up for their hearings are enforcement priorities and will be removed,” he said.
The comments were different from those Mayorkas made last week, as the camp of illegal immigrants was swelling.
“If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned, your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family’s life,” he said then, according to The Guardian.
Last week, CNN reported that the outlet had observed “some buses dropping off Haitians and people of other nationalities at a nongovernmental organization in Del Rio.”
The outlet noted from there, “[the migrants] buy their bus or plane tickets, then they are dropped off at a gas station where buses pick them up and take them to San Antonio and from there to other parts of the country.”
Mayorkas admits that 12,000+ Haitian illegal immigrants were released into the US from Del Rio. They were not subject to any vaccine or testing mandates. They were not tested before release. Haiti has a vax rate of less than 1%.
Mass catch & release continues under Biden admin.— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 26, 2021
During Mayorkas’ Fox News interview, Wallace asked about a border barrier, sparking a response from the DHS secretary.
“We do not agree with the building of the wall,” Mayorkas said. “The law provides that individuals can make a claim for humanitarian relief. That is actually one of our proudest traditions.”
He said that “our public health and public interest authorities” will decide who gets sent back to Haiti.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.