CNN host demands Mayorkas respond to Trump claim on Biden welcoming migrants to change 'electoral dynamics'

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CNN host asks Mayorkas if Biden admin letting migrants cross the border is strategy to change 'electoral dynamics' of U.S.

CNN host Dana Bash asked DHS Sec. Mayorkas on Sunday to address whether the Biden admin was allowing a record number migrants to cross the border in order to change the "electoral dynamics" of the U.S.

CNN host Dana Bash asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday to respond to Donald Trump's claim that the Biden White House was letting migrants across the border in order to change "electoral dynamics" of the U.S.

"Donald Trump yesterday suggested that on the campaign trail that President Biden has a deliberate strategy to let migrants across the border because, he says, President Biden wants to ‘overthrow the United States’ and ‘nullify the will of the actual American voters and establish a new base of power that gives them control for generations,'" Bash asked. "What’s your reaction to that?" 

Mayorkas cited the Hatch Act at first and didn't answer the question. Bash said she would re-ask the question in a way he could answer the question. 

"Is it the policy of the Biden administration to allow as many migrants to come across the border in order to change the political dynamics, the electoral dynamics, of America?" she said. 

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas joined CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday, March 3, 2024.  (Screenshot/CNN)

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Mayorkas confidently responded, "of course not." 

"And the facts indicate that is absolutely false. Since May of this year, of last year, we have removed or returned more individuals than in any year since 2015. And we haven’t even run 12 months over the last three years. We’ve removed, returned or expelled more people than in all four years of the prior administration," he said. 

Mayorkas added, "You know, the facts matter. And the rhetoric, we should brush aside."

The DHS secretary also responded to a question about an "SNL" sketch that depicted him defending Biden against concerns about his age.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks to the media about an overview of public safety plans for Super Bowl week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on February 7, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Candice Ward/Getty Images)

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"We all need a little comic relief now and then. I thought George Clooney did a terrific job," Mayorkas said, cracking a joke of his own. In reality, Marcello Hernández played Mayorkas.

Bash noted that the joke has a kernel of truth, in that a number of Americans are concerned about Biden's age, while administration officials tend to point to supposed examples of the president's vitality not seen by the public. Mayorkas continued this trend in response to Bash.

"They should spend a bit of time with Joe Biden like I have done. Let me share something with you. I prepare a lot from meetings with him and engagements with him because he‘s remarkably detail-oriented, probing, and operationally focused," he said during the media appearance.

President Joe Biden speaks to the National Governors Association during an event in the East Room of the White House on Friday, Feb. 23, in Washington.  (AP/Evan Vucci)

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Biden stopped in Brownsville, Texas, last week during a visit to the southern border. He called on Republicans to back the Senate border security bill and said it was "long past time to act."

"It's real simple, it's time to act, it is long past time to act," the president said. "It's time for us to move on this, we can't wait any longer."

"Folks, the bipartisan border security bill is a win for the American people and a win for the people of Texas, and it's fair for those who legitimately have a right to come here," Biden said.