Mayorkas urges patience at southern border, says Trump 'dismantled system'


Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday urged patience when it comes to the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
There has been an influx of migrants at the southern border, many of them unaccompanied minors who are being held at Border Patrol facilities, which are not meant for children, for longer periods of time. ABC News' Martha Raddatz, who was hosting Sunday's edition of This Week from the border, pressed Mayorkas on the issue, reading him a tweet sent from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who visited a border facility and described a harrowing scene involving a frightened young girl.
Mayorkas said the Biden administration has a plan to build capacity at shelters and help either reunite children with their families or other guardians or transfer them to safer facilities. "Martha, it takes time," he said, arguing the Trump administration would have turned the minors away. "When I say it takes time, I mean it, because we're dealing with a dismantled system. And we did not have the ordinary safe and just transition from one administration to another."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mayorkas repeated the argument that the Trump administration had set things in motion on multiple networks Sunday. Tim O'Donnell
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talks
speed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 days
speed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmir
speed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Israel approves plan to take over Gaza indefinitely
speed read Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is 'on the eve of a forceful entry'
-
Putin talks nukes as Kyiv slated for US air defenses
speed read 'I hope they will not be required,' Putin said of nuclear weapons on Russian state TV
-
US, Ukraine sign joint minerals deal
speed read The Trump administration signed a deal with Ukraine giving the US access to its mineral wealth
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Israel launches air strike on Beirut suburbs
Speed Read The attack targeting Hezbollah was Israel's third on the Lebanese capital since November's ceasefire