Republicans pounced on President Biden’s top Homeland Security official during a hearing that at times was heated as lawmakers pushed for more action as tens of thousands of people illegally attempt to cross the southern border daily.
House Homeland Security Committee ranking member John Katko began the hearing by criticizing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for not using the word “crisis” to describe the increasing number of families, children, and adults coming over the southern border each month. The DHS leader said he was not “spending any time on the language that we use” and was focused on the operational response. He later pushed back harder during questioning on the same issue by Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, and said a crisis is “when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration.”
“That, to me, is a humanitarian crisis,” Mayorkas said, referring to the Trump administration’s 2018 practice of prosecuting adults who came over the border illegally with a child.
SMUGGLERS PUSH TRIPLE-DIGIT GROUPS OF FAMILIES AND CHILDREN ACROSS BORDER, THREATENING BIDEN AGENDA
But other Republicans jumped in and attacked Mayorkas for language he used on March 1, when he said during a White House briefing that “we are not saying don’t come, we’re saying don’t come now.”
McCaul, the committee’s previous chairman, said that statement was not one of “deterrence.”
Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi did not ask Mayorkas any questions but told him he should not have rescinded Trump-era border policies, adding that Mayorkas ought to be familiar with the “Pottery Barn rule” of “you break it, you fix it,” a reference to the southern border.
Several Republicans inquired about the number of migrants who have been released from federal custody into the United States, where they will wait several years before being able to resolve immigration claims. Mayorkas said he did not know how many had been released since Jan. 20 or how many have tested positive for COVID-19. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that oversees the Border Patrol, will begin testing migrants in its custody but has not yet done so.
Rep. Kat Cammack, a first-term Floridian, told the secretary that a high school classmate was kidnapped in 2006 by an illegal immigrant who she said had been previously deported. Cammack said that Biden’s border policies risked public safety and asked how many people would be kidnapped before Mayorkas would take action.
“I find that question to be extraordinarily disrespectful,” said Mayorkas. “Disrespectful, not only to me but disrespectful to the men, all the front-line personnel throughout this country, who dedicate themselves to safety.”
“I’m sorry that you feel that way,” said Cammack. “I’m sure the American people feel very disrespected about the border situation they’re facing right now.”
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Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, said Republican concerns over people being released from federal custody without being tested was insincere.
“What I don’t appreciate, though, is the feigned concern of my colleagues about these [border releases] being superspreader events,” said Swalwell. “These are colleagues of mine who spent the last year going to superspreader events, a number of them at the White House. They mocked the mask mandates that we have here. And I just don’t believe that they have a genuine concern of the health of the people on the border presenting any superspreader threat.”
