Republicans and Democrats pressed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday over the agency’s lack of plans for hiring more Border Patrol agents.
Border Patrol agents on the U.S.-Mexico border are overwhelmed responding to the highest levels of illegal immigration in more than two decades, but the Biden administration has no plans to hire more federal agents to bolster their presence.
President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2022 does not provide money to hire additional Border Patrol agents beyond the approximate 19,000. Lawmakers repeatedly asked Mayorkas in a House Homeland Security Committee Thursday why the administration was not doing more to boost law enforcement numbers.
“Is it correct that there’s no additional Border Patrol agents scheduled in this budget request?” asked House Homeland Security Committee ranking member John Katko, a New York Republican.
“The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeking to invest significantly towards modification and technology,” Mayorkas said.
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Katko asked again if the budget would allow CBP to hire more agents within its Border Patrol office, given that agents from around the country have been flown to the southern border to assist overwhelmed agents.
“It does not. The agency has vacancies now. We are very focused on recruiting and hiring additional personnel,” said Mayorkas.
Questioned later by Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat, Mayorkas said he was “very focused on recruiting and hiring” agents but clarified that the new hires would only replace those who were retiring at higher-than-normal rates or other agents choosing to leave the force.
“I went to El Paso. I took a tour of the area, and I met two young girls — two refugees,” Correa said in an example of why he believes personnel, as well as technology, were both needed to secure the border. “They were thrown over the border wall by smugglers. In this case, the wall didn’t work. They were safe because two alert patrol border officers saw them with their high-tech equipment.”
Rep. Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, later asked Mayorkas why the White House’s proposed budget, which starts in October, did not include money to hire additional agents.
“The Border Patrol agents we talked with, you know why they’re demoralized, they’re changing diapers, and you will not take the necessary steps to stop it. You can say you are, but in the 74-page budget this — this administration’s put out … [do] you know how many times border is mentioned? Not once. You how many times climate is mentioned? Fifty-four times,” said Guest. “It’s not a priority.”
The secretary reiterated that only agent vacancies would be filled and that, having visited the border multiple times, he was aware of agent concerns and how to manage the international boundary.
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Guest asked Mayorkas three times if he had spoken with Border Patrol agents during his visits. Mayorkas said he had and added that Vice President Kamala Harris, the White House’s point person for border issues, was “quite familiar” with it, having served as the California attorney general.
