Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday where he reacted to the record-breaking 302,000 migrant encounters logged by the CBP in December.

“The border patrol in the month of December processed more migrants entering the United States illegally than any month in the history of that agency. Why is that happening? How do you explain it?” host Willie Geist asked Mayorkas.

“We are seeing the greatest number of displaced people, not only at our southern border, not only in the western hemisphere but across the globe,” Mayorkas says before naming climate change as one of the main factors driving the historic border numbers.

Watch the clip below:

“Border Patrol, in the month of December, processed more migrants entering the United States illegally than any month in the history of that agency. Why is that happening?”

MAYORKAS: “Climate change” pic.twitter.com/HOXFzyNSx0

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 3, 2024