(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently made a controversial statement regarding child trafficking in an interview with the CBS show Face the Nation.
In the interview, host Margaret Brennan asked Mayorkas about the validity of the claims made by incoming border czar Tom Homan that many children entering the country are being exploited and trafficked.
Mayorkas responded by deflecting responsibility for the situation that Brennan describes.
“Margaret, we certainly have received reports of children being trafficked, even those as to whom we know where they are,” he said. “That is outside the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security.”
He said the department only have the children for a set period of time.
“What we do is we turn children over within 72 hours, as the law requires, to the Department of Health and Human Services, and then HHS places those children,” Mayorkas said.
An audit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by the Office of Inspector General back in August uncovered that the agency failed to monitor over 30,000 unaccompanied migrant children after their release from government custody.
Mayorkas defended the Biden administration by trying to explain how and why the government may lose track of migrant minors as a result of the situation that they may be facing.
“Of course, we investigate cases of trafficking, but there are children who are reunited with a parent here in the United States or a legal guardian, and they move, and sometimes the government loses track,” he added. “Individuals do not comply with the reporting obligations, or otherwise.”
Mayorkas tried to make excuses for the department.
“I think it is inaccurate to say that all of them are trafficked or victimized,” he said. “There are a number of reasons why we might lose track of an individual that is not necessarily specific to this administration.”
Speaking to Fox and Friends in response to the Secretary’s statements, Homan emphatically refuted the claims that were made.
“As far as the children, another lie,” Homan said. “First of all, it’s his policies that caused over half a million children to be smuggled into this country and they lost track of 340,000 of them.”
Mayorkas continued in his role in the Biden Administration after narrowly surviving an impeachment attempt earlier this year. It was the first attempt to impeach a cabinet member since 1876.
