Harris Faulkner, a Fox News anchor, accidentally claimed that Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latino and immigrant to serve as the Secretary of Homeland Security, had resigned from his post.
The comment was made during a live phone conversation with former President Donald Trump on Monday on Fox News. Trump responded to the claim, saying, “I’m not surprised. Good. That’s a big victory for our country.”
Faulkner eventually stopped herself to speak with Fox producers before confirming that he did not in fact resign. “Cross off that victory,” Trump said.
Read More: Biden is on his heels amid a migrant surge at Mexico border
In a statement provided to theGrio, A Fox News spokesperson said “the error stemmed from an audio issue in a virtual working environment. We corrected the mistake and continued on with the interview.”
Earlier this month, Mayorkas criticized Trump for “gutting” the immigration system during a press conference. When President Joe Biden came into office, he not only promised to reunite the families that were separated due to governmental policies, he promised to create a fairer immigration process.
Mayorkas, the head of the department which oversees these matters, came under fire for not making the necessary and promised changes fast enough. He blamed the Trump administrations for creating a mess that is taking much longer than anticipated to roll back.
“The prior administration dismantled our nation’s immigration system in its entirety,” said Mayorkas, according to Bloomberg. Mayorkas went on to say that the Trump administration acted in “unlawful” ways during its dealings with ICE, the controversial immigration enforcement organization and now, any policy change must be approved by a union. These changes have reportedly delayed the swift progress many were hoping for.
According to Faulkner, Trump on Sunday called for Mayorkas’s resignation. Fellow Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham also called for his resignation last week saying he “doesn’t have either the will or capability to fix the problem,” according to the Washington Times.
According to the Associated Press, there has been a surge in migrants at the border due to Biden’s rollback of many strict anti-immigration Trump policies. While many are saying it’s a huge issue, Biden’s administration has downplayed the issue repeatedly.
Biden and his team are currently working on finding shelter for the 14,000 migrants who are in federal custody and critics are shocked at the lack of preparation because they say this surge was predictable, according to the Associated Press.
Read More: US border officials expelled at least 66 migrant children against court order
While the situation at the border is unfurling, media has had limited access to the housing facilities, which has drawn bipartisan criticism, according to Deadline.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration is working on creating a safe say to allow the media in.
“We are working through with the Department of Health and Human Services, and also the Department of Homeland Security to ensure privacy and to ensure that we are following Covid protocols. We remain committed to transparency, and of course as I noted last week, we certainly want to make sure the media has access to this sites,” said Psaki.
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