Border Patrol agents this week confronted Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over his lack of response to the border crisis, the Washington Examiner reported.
Mayorkas on Monday and Tuesday met with Border Patrol agents in West Texas. But he wasn't there to talk about the border surge, agents quickly learned.
"When he stated he was here to bring light to suicide prevention and nothing [about] the migrant crisis, our staff couldn't believe it and made it known to him," a senior agent told the Examiner.
One agent asked Mayorkas why he has said the border is "secure" when crossings are reaching unprecedented levels.
"He had the nerve to respond that he never said the border was secure," the Examiner's source said.
Mayorkas has repeatedly said the border is secure, as have many other Biden administration officials, even as the crisis worsens.
Just this week, a caravan of more than 1,000 illegal immigrants crossed into El Paso. President Joe Biden on Dec. 6 ducked on visiting the border, saying that "there are more important things going on." The Border Patrol announced one day later that an agent had died during a high-speed chase with illegal immigrants.
Agents gave an "icy welcome" to Mayorkas, the Examiner reported, with the source calling their reaction "lifeless."
Mayorkas, who tweeted Tuesday about strengthening "the security of our borders," did not visit "downtown El Paso or any spot on 'the line,' which is where Border Patrol agents physically apprehend immigrants," the Examiner wrote.
The secretary's visit prompted comparisons to Vice President Kamala Harris's sole trip to the border. Harris, who is ostensibly in charge of overseeing the crisis, doesn't appear "very interested" in policing the border, Democratic Texas congressman Henry Cuellar has said.