Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas discussed with Fox News presenter Chris Wallace on Sunday about the Biden government restricting media access to federal facilities where thousands of migrant children are detained after crossing the border.
Observing President Biden’s promise to keep a White House transparent, the Fox News Sunday presenter asked why reporters do not have access to Customs and Border Patrol facilities, including during the Mayorkas’ visit to the border on Friday. market.
The secretary began his response by saying that “we are in the middle of a pandemic”.
“We are focused on our operations, running our operations, in a crowded border patrol facility, where hundreds of vulnerable migrant children are located,” said Mayorkas.
“We are working to provide images so that the American public can see the border patrol stations,” he continued.
But Wallace said it sounds like “an excuse” and pointed out that “there is a safe condition” in which a pool reporter and camera crew can enter one of the facilities and record the children, even in a coronavirus pandemic.
“We are working to provide access,” replied Mayorkas.
“And certainly reporters can see the facilities of the Department of Health and Human Services, where children are sheltered for a longer period of time,” he added.