Donald Trump has lashed out at the Biden administration in a wide-ranging interview, calling Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alex Mayorkas 'incompetent' and slamming President Joe Biden's approach to energy policy.
Trump blasted Mayorkas as 'incompetent' over the dire situation at the southern border, where a surge in illegal crossings has quickly overwhelmed immigration officials.
'He's incompetent and just mark my words, take a look at what's going to happen over the next fairly long period of time because they might not be capable of stopping it,' Trump said in an interview with Newsmax on Monday.
'You take a look even now you take a look at the thousands of people that are pouring up from South America, Latin America, pouring up into our country, and they don't even stop them, they just let them walk right in. They've totally lost control of the southern border. We had it under total control,' he added.
Donald Trump has lashed out at the Biden administration in a wide-ranging interview
Trump called Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alex Mayorkas 'incompetent' over his handling of the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border
Trump also slammed President Joe Biden's approach to energy policy, saying it would cost the US its energy independence
'It's incredible to watch,' Trump said of the shocking scenes at the border, where thousands of minors are being held in hastily constructed migrant camps.
Over the weekend, Rep. Henry Cuellar had released the first images from inside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas.
He said 400 unaccompanied male minors are being held in 'terrible conditions' there in a space meant to hold a maximum of 260 people.
In January and February, apprehensions of unaccompanied minors who crossed the southern border illegally surged 92 percent from the same period last year, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
More than 300,000 solo adults were apprehended in the same period, a surge of 188 percent.
Mayorkas and the rest of the Biden administration have refused to acknowledge that the situation is a crisis, and Biden has largely avoided the issue.
Illegal border crossings are well above recent year levels, this CBP chart shows
Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar released images over the weekend of child migrants at a holding facility in Donna, Texas
Mayorkas and the rest of the Biden administration have refused to acknowledge that the situation is a crisis, and Biden has largely avoided the issue
Trump slams Biden over energy policy and says US will lose energy independence in 'three or four months'
In Monday's interview, Trump also said that Biden's emphasis on green energy is unwinding of America's energy independence and 'destroying our country' as well as enriching our oil-producing rivals.
'They're destroying our country, and we just can't let these things to continue to happen – whether it's the border or energy independence,' Trump said.
'Energy independence' refers to eliminating the need for the U.S. to import oil from foreign sources. In 2018, America became a net exporter of oil for the first time in modern history, due in large part to technology advances such as fracking.
'Look at what's happening with energy. Gasoline prices are going up like nobody thought would be possible,' Trump said in the interview.
Trump boasted that his administration brought oil prices 'down to a level they've never seen before,' a claim that is roughly true accounting for inflation, and lamented that 'now they're going up.'
The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil is seen since 1975 (not inflation adjusted)
An oil well in Texas is seen in a file photo. Trump claims that Biden's policies will reverse US energy independence and force the country to rely on foreign oil
Oil prices have risen sharply off their pandemic lows as demand increases and more people travel or commute, and a winter storm in Texas also bumped up prices by knocking refineries offline. But it's likely too early for Biden policies to have any significant impact on prices at the pump.
Still, Trump insisted that Biden's approach is enriching other oil-producing countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, and 'all these other Middle East countries.'
'We're making them rich and we're becoming less and less energy independent,' he said. 'Within three or four months we won't be energy independent. It's a very sad thing.'
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