When exactly does Mayorkas think the border crisis started?

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas should be commended for finally admitting under oath Wednesday, that the southern border is in “crisis.”

Asked by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), “Would you call it at a crisis at the southern border?” Mayorkas responded, “Yes, I would.”

While this was not the first time that Mayorkas admitted there was a crisis on the southern border, as he earlier admitted it on Meet the Press on Feb. 11, Mayorkas has long denied there was a crisis at the southern border, and he has never explained when the crisis began.

As recently as Feb. 2, Mayorkas refused to admit to the New York Times that the border was in crisis. “He was also careful when I asked him about the political repercussions of what many Americans, including many Democrats, now view as an immigration crisis,” Lulu Garcia-Navarro reported. “Mayorkas will not use the word ‘crisis.’ He says ‘the system is broken.’ And he would not talk about Biden-administration missteps.”

And Feb. 2 was not the first time Mayorkas denied there was a crisis at the southern border.

Less than two months after Biden took office, Mayorkas was asked specifically at the White House press briefing if there was a “crisis” at the southern border, and Mayorkas said, “No.”

Just a month later, Prescient Joe Biden accidentally admitted there was a crisis on the southern border while talking with reporters after a game of golf in Delaware. The White House was quick to walk that statement back, however. “No, there is no change in position. Children coming to our border seeking refuge from violence, economic hardships and other dire circumstances is not a crisis,” a White House official told reporters.

Fast forward to a year ago, and Mayorkas again denied, this time to 60 Minutes, that our southern border was in crisis. “The chief of the border patrol, Raul Ortiz, testified before Congress that some areas of the border are in a crisis situation. Do you agree,” Sharyn Alfonsi asked.

“I think that we face a very serious challenge in certain parts of the border,” Mayorkas replied.

Alfonsi then pressed, “Do you view what’s happening right now on the border as a crisis?” 

Mayorkas again declined, “I view it as a significant challenge.”

Given Mayorkas’s well-established history of denying the southern border is in crisis, a position he has maintained from when he was first sworn into office until Feb. 2 of this year, the public deserves to know what exactly happened between Feb. 2 and Feb. 11 that made Mayorkas suddenly realize there was a crisis at the southern border.

The truth, of course, is that the border crisis began as soon as Biden began following through on his campaign promise to welcome as many illegal immigrants into the country as possible. On Day One of his presidency, he ended the Migrant Protection Protocols and instituted a 100-day moratorium on deportations. He then made it harder for agents to deport anyone but violent criminals, causing a sharp fall in ICE arrests and historic deportation lows.

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Thanks to these catch-and-release policies, the number of illegal border crossings immediately spiked and has not gone down since. 

Someone should press the White House to explain when exactly they realized the situation on the southern border was a crisis.