Mayorkas says as many as 12K out of 17K migrants have been released into U.S., and ‘it could be higher’ as DHS

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Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted Sunday that the vast majority of Haitian migrants who crossed the southern U.S. border in recent weeks have already been released into the United States, and it is possible that more will follow them.

So far, approximately 12,400 of the people are having their cases heard by immigration judges, while another 5,000 are being processed by the Department of Homeland Security. Currently,, only 3,000 are in detention.

“Approximately, I think it’s about ten thousand or so, twelve thousand,” Mayorkas told “Fox News Sunday” when asked how many have already been released. He then acknowledged that this number could very well go up as the 5,000 other cases are processed.

“It could be even higher. The number that are returned could be even higher. What we do is we follow the law as Congress has passed it,” Mayorkas said.

The secretary said the administration “will make determinations whether they will be returned to Haiti based on our public health and public interest authorities.”