US immigration chief urges Congress to fix 'broken' system amid migrant surge

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urged lawmakers Wednesday to fix the US’ "broken" immigration system as thousands of migrants head to the country’s southern border.

"We are a nation of immigrants. We are also a nation of laws. Our immigration laws today are outdated. The solutions we are implementing are the best available within our current legal authority, but they are short-term solutions to a decades-old problem," Mayorkas told reporters.

"We are taking this approach within the constraints of a broken immigration system that Congress has not fixed for more than two decades and without the resources we need personnel, facilities, transportation, and others that we have requested of Congress, and that we were not given," he added.

The comments come as the US experiences a dramatic uptick of migrants coming to the country, largely from Latin America, ahead of the May 11 expiration of Title 42 -- pandemic-related authorities that allowed the US to swiftly remove migrants seeking asylum.

The expiration of Title 42 has raised concerns among officials that it could worsen the existing humanitarian crisis at the southern border by encouraging a surge of migrants attempting to cross into the US.

The Biden administration has been bracing for an expected surge in migrant arrivals at the southern border as Title 42 comes to an end

Since Title 42 was enacted by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, the policy has allowed the US to expel migrants nearly 2.7 million times from the southern border, according to government figures.

Under US law, any migrant can claim asylum in the US whether or not they come to the country through a legal port of entry.

In addition to sending some 1,500 troops to the US-Mexico border for three months to bolster the capacity of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced last week that the US is establishing migrant processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala to help stymy the expected surge.