Mayorkas: There Are ’12 Million People’ in U.S. Illegally Who Contribute ‘So Fundamentally to Our Country’s Well-Being’

During an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to a question on how to handle people who are in the country illegally by stating that there are “12 million people who are here in the United States who have been contributing so fundamentally to our country’s well-being.”

Host Romaine Bostick said that the consequences for arriving at the border irregularly won’t be a deterrent for a lot of people and don’t “address the other sort of elephant in the room, which is dealing with the undocumented immigrants who are already here in the nation. And I know it’s been a political football, as we’re trying to figure out the best way to address that, but I’m going to ask you, what is the best way to address that, from your perspective?”

Mayorkas responded, “The answer is quite clear and quite straightforward, and we’ve been waiting for it for about 30 years. And that is to fix a system that everyone agrees is fundamentally broken. And we need congressional action, both for the lawful pathways, that really need to be more robust in statute, and for the 12 million people who are here in the United States who have been contributing so fundamentally to our country’s well-being. They’re our neighbors, our friends, our fellow congregants. They provide — are frontline workers. We need to do something, and I am hopeful and remain hopeful that Congress will do it. The president, on his first day in office, presented Congress with a proposal.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett