Sec’y now admits 12K are in US From bridge site

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted on Sunday that more than 12,000 Haitian migrants who had been camped out under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, have been released into the US and more may follow them.

Mayorkas told “Fox News Sunday” that there are about 12,400 Haitians in the process of having asylum claims heard by an immigration judge, while around 5,000 were being processed by the Department of Homeland Security.

About 3,000 were being detained.

“Approximately, I think it’s about 10,000 or so, 12,000,” Mayorkas responded when asked how many migrants have already been released.

He added that the number could increase, with 5,000 cases still being processed.

“It could be even higher. The number that are returned could be even higher. What we do is we follow the law as Congress has passed it,” Mayorkas said.

He added that the Biden administration “will make determinations whether they will be returned to Haiti based on our public- health and public-interest authorities.”

He also bristled under questioning by Fox News’ Chris Wallace, who said DHS figures show the “flood” of illegal immigration has gotten worse under the Biden White House.

“I wouldn’t call it flood,” Mayorkas said.

Many of the migrants being released into the United States could have the coronavirus because the Biden administration is not requiring them to be tested or be vaccinated after they enter the country illegally.

Wallace asked Mayorkas how many of the migrants let in so far have been tested.

The administration follows “strict COVID testing protocols,” Mayorkas responded.

“We test, isolate, and quarantine unaccompanied children. We work with nonprofit organizations to test families.

“Those who are in ICE custody are tested, isolated and quarantined. Those who are expelled under the Title 42 Public Health Authority are returned immediately. They are not placed in immigration-court proceedings, and those we do not test, because they are returned immediately.”

The makeshift camp under the International Bridge was cleared last week, but at one point, it held as many as 30,000 migrants living in squalid conditions and created a humanitarian crisis for the White House.

The US deported about 2,000 of the migrants in flights to Haiti and roughly 8,000 voluntarily returned to Mexico.