Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas visited Tucson to talk about the border, asylum. Here’s what you need to know.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas came to Tucson Wednesday to extol how the Biden administration’s new border policy has resulted in fewer people crossing the border.

“The President’s actions are working because of their tough response to illegal crossings,” Mayorkas said during the press conference held on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Immigration experts, however, say it’s too soon for a victory lap, and the changes violate migrants’ rights to seek asylum.

Asylum was first codified into U.S. law with the Refugee Act of 1980, which modified previous immigration law to legally allow anybody present in the country, no matter how they arrived or what their legal status is, to apply for asylum.

Border and immigration laws remain a lightening-rod issue in this year’s local, state and national elections with political rhetoric aplenty from candidates on both sides of the aisle.