Mayorkas toured the facility in Donna, Texas, which had been stuffed with over 4,000 migrants early on in the crisis -- with migrants seen packed into tiny pods.
Since then, the administration has transferred many of the children in those centers into the custody of Health and Human Services, where the amount of migrants in care has expanded from 12,000 to over 22,000 in only a few months.
Yet the administration has labeled it as a win, explaining that children are better off being cared for by HHS than by Border Patrol agents. The administration earlier this week published photos of empty areas, contrasting them with those from March.
WATCH:ELON MUSK TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF SELF DRIVING CARS
Mayorkas told reporters that the agency has made "dramatic progress" but stressed that "the challenge remains" and explained that it aimed to keep its current capacity to cope with future influxes.
"We're down to about 1,830 people per day right now," he said, referring to encounters at the border. Unfortunately, we're still seeing a fairly high population of migrant children are coming across -- 270 a day right now, the last 21 days," he said.
WATCH ALAN DERSHOWITZ: "THERE IS NO CRIME IN MANHATTAN"
There were over 172,000 migrant encounters at the border in March, including a record amount of children, and similar numbers are anticipated for April. It flooded facilities and left the Border Patrol releasing migrants into the interior without notices to appear in court.
PUTIN'S LATEST POWER MOVE: RUSSIA DISPLAYS "WAR WINS" IN EYE-OPENING EXHIBITION
The Biden administration has declined to describe the surge at the border as a crisis, describing it instead as a "challenge" and accusing it of a mix of the Trump administration’s lack of preparedness and "root causes" in Central America like poverty, violence, and climate.
HOW DEMOCRATS' ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ARE TURNING INTO THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE
Critics have accused the Biden administration’s refusal to apply Title 42 health protections -- which enable migrants to be promptly removed -- to children and some migrant families, while further blaming its rolling back of Trump-era policies like border wall construction and the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).
BIDEN'S CRUCIAL CROSSROADS: GAZA CEASE-FIRE NEGOTIATIONS REACH CRITICAL JUNCTURE
Mayorkas has faced pressure from activists who have called for him to end Title 42 altogether. He explained that the agency is making exceptions for some exposed people on Title 42 -- yet implied that the program would be in place until the pandemic was done.
In the meantime, Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday met virtually with the Mexican president and called for "immediate relief" for Northern Triangle nations as part of an attempt to solve those root causes.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
