CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan: COVID-19 Led to Game Changers on Illegal Immigration

YUMA, AZ - MARCH 17: U.S. Customs and Border Protection border patrol agent Ben Vik appre
File Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

Policy responses to the coronavirus outbreak were a “game changer” in assisting prevention of illegal crossings across the southern border, explained Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan on Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

“Partly because of the administration’s policies provided [to] us and then with COVID(-19), we’re seeing is several things happening,” Morgan said. “The [migration of] families from northern triangle countries has all but ended. What we’re seeing now — believe it or not — is that the largest demographic coming across now is Mexican nationals, but we’re in a much better place to deal with that because of COVID(-19), because now this isn’t [just] an immigration enforcement issue. This is [now] a public health concern, and so the CDC [has] a public health order that actually gives us the authority to stem the possibility of more COVID(-19) flowing into our country.”

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Morgan continued, “We can now actually apprehend these individuals right at the border, turn them around, [and] send them back to Mexico. We’re doing that within a couple hours. That’s been a game changer from a public health standpoint.”

Marlow and Morgan discussed ongoing left-wing and Democrat characterizations of law enforcement and broader American society as pathologized by “systemic racism.” Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer  (D-NY) — including news media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times — regularly describe “systemic racism” as an aspect of America.

“It’s important that we have leaders in law enforcement and our elected leaders standing up [and] pushing back against this false narrative [of systemic racism],” Morgan said. “That’s why I’ve been very passionate and very strong saying very clearly [that] there is no systemic racism in the law enforcement profession. That is a false narrative. It doesn’t mean we can’t get better, but that’s a false choice that the the vocal minority is driving us to choose.”

Calls to “defund the police” will degrade the quality of law enforcement, noted Morgan.

Morgan remarked, “We should all be united in asking, ‘How do we get better?’ and having meaningful, intellectually honest conversation that gets actionable items to get better. Let’s talk about improved deescalation, let’s talk about certification [and] the president’s executive order about [how] we should be investing more and incentivizing best practices across the law enforcement community so we can get better. And what does the mayor of Los Angeles do, the city where I was a police officer? He wants to take money away. It’s ridiculous, and it’s dangerous, and makes no sense.”

Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.

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