The security of the presidential candidates “is one of our … most vital” priorities at the Department of Homeland Security, which directs the U.S. Secret Service, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an 8:43 PM tweet after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Mayorkas, who has previously described the welfare of migrants as his top priority, posted the tweet roughly two hours and twenty minutes after a bullet seemed to clip Trump’s ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The tweet was one of three:
U.S. Secret Service Director Cheatle and I have briefed President Biden on today’s shooting in Pennsylvania. DHS and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement partners to respond to and investigate the shooting.
— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) July 14, 2024
In May 2021, Mayorkas told MSNBC, “Our highest priority is to reunite these [deported migrant] families. As we so powerfully saw, these are young people in their formative years,” he said. “These are sometimes children as young as 3 years old. We are addressing the needs and vulnerabilities, not only of the children, but of course, their mothers, their fathers, the people that make up these families.”
