McConnell to DHS Sec Mayorkas: Border Problems 'Definition of a Crisis'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday took offense with the Biden administration's refusal to acknowledge the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border as a crisis after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before a House committee that he would refer to actions taken by the Trump administration in separating families as being the real definition of a crisis situation.

"My definition of a crisis is when you send the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which only goes to emergencies down to the border, it is by definition an emergency," the Kentucky Republican told Fox News' Harris Faulkner on "The Faulkner Focus."

"This administration walked away from the policy the previous administration was able to negotiate with the Mexican government, where people are detained on the other side of the border," he added. "That allows that influx into our country and then they are caught up in the system which is largely going to remain under this administration a catch and release approach."

Mayorkas, while testifying to the House Homeland Security Committee, said he'd describe the climate situation as a crisis that threatens national security, but not the growing number of migrants at the border, reports Fox News.

"I will share with you how I define a crisis. A crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration," Mayorkas said. "That to me is a humanitarian crisis.

"Given the tremendous rise and surge of individuals coming to the border, wouldn’t it be fair to call it a crisis? Because that's what your agents are calling it," said the committee's ranking member, Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., who visited the border earlier this week with a House GOP delegation led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Mayorkas said he refuses to get into an argument on semantics or language, but that he's "spending time on the operational response to the situation at the border."

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, responded that words do matter, but he thinks the secretary sent the wrong message when he said, 'We're not saying don't come; we're saying don't come now.' That is not a message of deterrence."

McCaul added that in 2014, then-President Barack Obama called a similar surge a "humanitarian crisis" and said that he was right. Further, McCaul said former President Donald Trump's remain-in-Mexico policy was "masterful" but Biden sent the wrong message when he reversed many of Trump's policies. "Cartels and traffickers see that the green light is on at our southern border and the United States is open for business again," he said.

In response, McConnell told Faulkner that the United States "certainly" wants to take care of child migrants coming across the border, but the situation is "about a lot more."

"This is about whether or not the federal government will contain the border," he said. "The previous administration did an excellent job on border security. This administration is stopping funding for the wall, as an example. How is that helpful? Stopping the agreement with the Mexican government to contain people on the other side of the border. How is that helpful? This is a crisis. I don't care what the Secretary of Homeland Security wants to call it. It's a crisis that they created."

McConnell also talked about President Joe Biden and what some have said is his recent shift to the left.

"Joe Biden is a really nice guy," said McConnell, who served with the president while they were both senators. "Everybody liked him, but I never remembered him as a moderate, so I'm not surprised that he is not a moderate."

Biden "just seemed moderate running for the nomination compared to everyone else who wanted to be president," added McConnell. "I'm not surprised that this is a left-wing administration. I anticipated it. And that's why it will be very difficult to craft bipartisan agreements because they want to jam things through their way hard left, which I don't think the American people expect any bipartisanship to support."