Mayorkas’ department is in charge of preventing domestic and foreign terrorist attacks. Monitor threats from weapons of mass destruction, protect infrastructure, and ensure we are safe from cyberattacks.

What many of the DHS agencies have in common is that you often don’t hear much about them unless something really bad has happened.

So even if Mayorkas didn’t also oversee immigration, that most tense of political issues, being DHS secretary, responsible for defending the nation against terrorism, hackers, nuclear weapons and natural disasters, can often be a thankless job.

And despite his best attempts, it is Mayorkas’ management of Border Patrol, ICE and Immigration Services that has dominated his tenure and made him the main target of attack for the GOP in Biden’s Cabinet.

In this episode of Deep Dive, Ryan and Sec. Mayorkas discuss how the threat of terrorism has changed over the last two decades, the challenges of dealing with domestic extremism, why the end of Title 42 didn’t lead to the border surge many predicted, the future of the TSA, the fentanyl crisis, the prospects for impeachment, and how going through the meat grinder of DC politics has changed it.