Statement from Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Securing the Border Final Rule

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas issued the following statement on the Department of Homeland Security-Department of Justice joint final rule, following the joint interim final rule that the Departments issued in June. The joint final rule continues to limit asylum eligibility and significantly increase timely consequences for those who cross illegally at our southern border and have no legal basis to remain in the United States:

"In June, the Biden-Harris Administration took decisive action to strengthen our nation's border security and deter irregular migration. That decisive action - the President's Proclamation and the Departments' joint interim final rule that implemented it - has been delivering results: illegal crossings at our southern border have dropped by more than 55 percent. The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice have now finalized the rule, which implements the President's updated Proclamation. This action has been taken in parallel with other Administration actions that have both increased enforcement and delivered to asylum seekers safe and lawful pathways to humanitarian relief that cut out the ruthless smuggling organizations that prey on the vulnerable.

"In the past year, total removals and returns of people crossing illegally have exceeded the number of removals and returns in any fiscal year since 2010. We have worked with other countries to disrupt and dismantle the smuggling organizations, enhance their enforcement efforts, accept the return of migrants who do not qualify for relief, make irregular migration more difficult, and much more. In parallel, this Administration has taken new and innovative steps to provide humanitarian relief to individuals in need so that they do not have to migrate irregularly at tremendous peril, in the hands of the ruthless and powerful smuggling organizations. This Administration, with its international partners, has built safe mobility offices, increased refugee processing, built new labor pathways, provided new humanitarian relief processes, and increased family reunification.

"Yet, these efforts, impactful as they have been, are no substitute for Congressional action. We cannot provide the greater and more enduring systemic changes that America's broken immigration system desperately needs because only Congress can do that. Nor can we provide the Department of Homeland Security and the other departments responsible for administering our nation's immigration system with the personnel, resources, and tools needed to fully meet today's border security challenges; Congress must do that.

"Our Administration worked closely with a bipartisan group of Senators earlier this year to help craft legislation that would have delivered the toughest and fairest border security measures in decades. It would have, for example, provided funding for 1,500 new Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers; 1,200 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel; 4,300 additional asylum officers; and more than 10,000 additional detention beds. To sustain the progress the Biden-Harris Administration has made, and to build on it, Congress must pass the bipartisan border security bill."