Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was in Austin Tuesday to talk about America's immigration system, saying the Department of Justice takes it very seriously.
“In the last two months, Border Patrol has apprehended over 50,000 illegal aliens who have crossed our border, including more than 23,000 people in family units,” said Whitaker.
That also includes a record number of asylum seekers.
“In 2009, we had about 5,000 initial asylum screenings,” he said. “Within seven years that has increased to almost 100,000 initial asylum screenings.”
“The Marshals Service estimated that they were spending more than $1.4 million a day housing illegal aliens,” he added.
Whitaker complained steps the Trump administration has taken to restore the rule of law have been stopped by activist judges -- a practice he argued is unconstitutional. He reiterated the need for a border wall to protect Americans from both violence and drug trafficking.
“The vast majority of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and other dangerous drugs are killing a record numbers of Americans. I think the number last year was 70,000 Americans,” he said.
“All of that is often times made outside and imported into our country,and it's come across our southern border.”
Whitakerhas been mentioned as a possible choice as Trump hunts for a newchief of staff to replace John Kelly. He did not mention thatTuesday or take any questions.