Ken Cuccinelli: We Have Never Had Better Cooperation with Mexico on Illegal Immigration

Mexico’s cooperation with the U.S. on border security is at an all-time high, declared Deputy Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Ken Cuccinelli on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

President Donald Trump’s initially “heavy-handed” approach towards Mexico on issues related to border security and illegal immigration yielded unprecedented cooperation with the bordering states, Cuccinelli stated.

“We have never had better cooperation from our Mexican partners to the south on blocking illegal immigration than we’re getting right now,” he added.

“We’re in a completely different place [with Mexico],” Cuccinelli remarked. “Right now, under the public health order, the vast proportion of Mexican nationals coming across illegally [are being returned] in under two hours to Mexico, and that can only be done with their cooperation.”

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Cuccinelli continued, “We’re also returning some folks from Central America that quickly and [are] still running what’s called the MPP — Migrant Protection Protocols — which allows us to essentially put individuals or families in Mexico to wait for their hearings in the United States, instead of having to either hold them in ICE facilities or release them, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid.”

The U.S. and Mexico operate “mirrored patrols” across the shared border, Cuccinelli said, identifying the shared security operations as evidence of improving coordination between the two states.

Increased border security for Mexico’s northern and southern borders benefits the Mexican economy, he asserted.

Cuccinelli added, “[Mexico has] also put a lot more enforcement effort into its southern border, and that’s born real fruit for the United States of America because of the reduced flow of the illegals coming from Central America.”

He then took time to give an update on the construction of the border wall.

“The president has pushed ahead on all those fronts [including] building the wall,” added Cuccinelli. “We got to the first hundred miles, it took all the way to January of this year, the second hundred miles was in June. I think the third hundred miles will be in the same season. I think we’ll get there in the summer.”

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