It's "outrageous" that migrants are demanding $50,000 each to return home if they're not allowed to enter the United States, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday.
"As an American, I think that’s outrageous," Nielsen told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "They’ve asked us to intervene in the government of Honduras, they've demanded that Americans pay them $50,000 each and they’ve demanded that we change the way in which we do immigration and how we protect our border. These are not migrants who are seeking asylum."
Earlier this week, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that two migrant groups from Central America marched to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, demanding the money, that deportations be stopped and that the processing of asylum seekers be done faster.
Nielsen also shared several statistics about the immigration situation, saying that nine out of 10 illegal immigrants who are arrested already have criminal convictions or are facing pending criminal charges.
"The men and women of ICE work hard every day to secure the country despite limitations from Congress," said Nielsen. "We've seen a 10 percent increase in arrests and removals."
Another important part of the mission is stop drugs from entering the country, she said, with DHS investigators seizing nearly 900,000 pounds of narcotics being brought across the border so far this year.
She also said that the stalemate on border wall financing is a "terrible example of politics at its worst."
"Democrats have voted for the wall before," said Nielsen. "In fact they appropriated money for the wall just last year. Nothing has changed. In fact the numbers have gone up. The security risks have gone up."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.