Border Patrol union president slams Mayorkas, says 85% of illegal arrivals are staying in US

President of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd, said that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas can't deflect to Border Patrol agents and that 85% of illegal immigrants are allowed to stay in the U.S. 

"He wasn't very heavy on substance yesterday," Judd said on the Tuesday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "But it's just that he couldn't tell us something that we already knew. Every single agent in there would have called him out on that. But when he's before Congress, when they don't have the numbers in front of them and when they don't have the experience that we all have, it's a lot easier for him to deflect."

During a private meeting with border patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, Mayorkas admitted that the  release for illegal immigrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border is "above 85%," sources told Fox News.

During an interview with Fox host Bret Baier earlier this week, Mayorkas said that only 70% of them were released into the U.S. each day.  Judd and other agents pushed back on his comments. 

"Bret says that his understanding was 70%," Judd said. "During the muster, I said, 'Look, we all know that the percentage conservatively is 85% and could be upwards of that.'"

Judd said that while Mayorkas says a lot of these immigrants are going into deportation proceedings, it is very misleading. 

"While that is a true statement, it is meant to be misleading because it's painting that picture that we're deporting all these people, and that's not true," Judd said. "What he needs to do is he needs to go further and explain to the American people what's happening when we put them into deportation proceedings. Once we put them in there, we're releasing them into the United States."