Expect subpoenas to fly if Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) secures the House Homeland Security Committee gavel.
The Republican lawmaker has vowed not only to target top Biden administration officials if appointed chairman in the coming days but to force the transition team to testify on what exactly Trump administration officials warned them about at the southern border if it were to gut former President Donald Trump’s policies.
“We had an effectively orderly border, at least by the time they took the reins. And we want to subpoena and talk to members of that transition team and ask them what the hell happened,” Crenshaw said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “We want to establish that the transition team was advised against any policies that led to the crisis, the administration ended effective policies without a plan to mitigate the influx of migrants, [and that] they knowingly ended effective policies in violation of the law.”
The committee would target officials who predate the Biden administration but were involved in crafting border and immigration policy as he took office in January 2021. Crenshaw said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas can expect to be called in to testify and asked if he takes full responsibility for the actions of his department over the past two years or if he would recuse himself as having been the White House’s puppet.
THESE THREE IMMIGRATION ISSUES WILL BE THE TOP STORIES OF 2023
“He’s probably going to take responsibility. Good for him, but then now he’s the target. And my advice to him continues to be the same: Resign in protest,” said Crenshaw, a third-term congressman who served five tours overseas as a Navy SEAL. “Resign in protest if you care about your reputation because you know damn well that this is complete failure. And the best thing you can do is resign and blame the administration for making you … derelict of duty.”
Crenshaw wagered that the 5 million encounters federal police at the U.S. border have made since President Joe Biden took office two years ago was no coincidence or the result of incompetence but a choice not to intervene in the chaos.
“It’s intentional in a complicated way. They are beholden to extremist immigration groups,” Crenshaw said, adding that he believed far-left groups were either trying to “change the demographic nature of America … as quickly as possible” or the result of prioritizing compassion and fairness over the law.
“I’m not just being some crazy right-winger. I think that is truly their intentions,” he said.
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A handful of Republicans threw their hats in for the chairman’s seat last year. Crenshaw and Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) are the only two remaining contenders. The GOP Steering Committee will select the chairman following the House’s selection of a speaker.
