“We have to equip people in communities to identify signs of mental health issues and especially if those signs are coupled with expressions of intent or interest in committing acts of violence,” Mayorkas said.
The Department of Homeland Security has participated in calls with the Justice Department and the broader law enforcement community in the wake of the Buffalo attack. “What law enforcement wants to see from us is as real-time, actionable information as we can provide with respect to the threat landscape. What do we know?” the secretary told CNN.
“We have a vantage point that a local law enforcement agency would not have. We understand the national picture,” he added. “They want us to push that information out as quickly as possible and provide as fulsome of information set as we can.”
Mayorkas told CNN earlier Monday that the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, but declined to call it a domestic terrorist attack. “With respect to the tragic events of this past Saturday, it is being investigated, as the FBI articulated, as a hate crime,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond. “The term domestic terrorism is a legal term, and because the investigation is ongoing, I won’t — I won’t employ that term.”
Federal prosecutors are working to bring charges against the shooting suspect, law enforcement officials said. Those charges are expected in the coming days, and would be in addition to state charges. The suspect was charged with first-degree murder Saturday. He has pleaded not guilty.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Saturday said the Justice Department was investigating the attack as a “hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.”
Title 42 remains uncertain
The department has been actively preparing for a potential surge in migrants when the authority lifts. Those plans also require coordination with partners to the south.
“It has to involve countries to the south of our border. It cannot be the United States alone at its border. It has to involve a regional solution to what is a regional challenge,” Mayorkas said.
DHS is working to strike migration agreements with “many” countries, though those arrangements might vary by country. The US has already struck agreements with Costa Rica and Panama.
Asked whether DHS can collaborate with GOP governors amid the pushback, Mayorkas told CNN, “We have collaborated with state and local leaders of both parties. It is unhelpful when actions are taken outside of a collaborative environment.”
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