During a visit with Border Patrol agents, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made a grim assessment of the immigration situation.

According to Fox News:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met privately with Border Patrol agents in Texas and said in leaked audio that the border crisis is “unsustainable” and “we’re going to lose” if “borders are the first line of defense.”

“A couple of days ago I was down in Mexico, and I said look, you know, if, if our borders are the first line of defense, we’re going to lose and this is unsustainable,” Mayorkas said Thursday, according to the audio obtained by Fox News’ Bill Melugin through a Border Patrol source. “We can’t continue like this, our people in the field cant continue and our system isn’t built for it.”

Mayorkas told the agents that the current border situation “cannot continue.” He said the federal government’s system was not designed to handle such an influx of migrants as the U.S. has seen in recent months and he was “very well” aware that the sector recently came close to “breaking.”

“It’s our responsibility to make sure that that never happens again,” he said.

Mayorkas did say that the agency’s ability to meet the challenge is still strong.