Mayorkas’ department is charged with preventing foreign and domestic terrorist attacks. Monitor threats from weapons of mass destruction, secure infrastructure, and ensure we’re safe from cyberattacks.
What many of the DHS agencies have in common is that you often don’t hear much about them unless something really bad has happened.
So even if Mayorkas hasn’t also overseen immigration, the most charged of political issues, being secretary of DHS — responsible for defending the nation against terrorism, hackers, nuclear weapons and natural disasters — can often be a thankless job. .
And despite his best efforts, it is Mayorkas’ handling of Border Patrol, ICE and Immigration Services that has dominated his tenure and made him the GOP’s top attack target in the Biden cabinet.
In this episode of Deep Dive, Ryan and Sec. Mayorkas discuss how the threat of terrorism has changed over the past two decades, the challenges of dealing with domestic extremism, why the end of Title 42 didn’t lead to the border wave that many had predicted, the future of the TSA, the fentanyl crisis, the prospects of impeachment, and how the meat grinder of DC politics has changed it.
