The top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform slammed the Biden administration for refusing to allow senior Border Patrol officials to appear in a public hearing next week.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) accused Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of being in violation of the White House’s promise of “transparency” for rejecting the committee’s request to let federal law enforcement employees testify about the border crisis.
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“We just asked the four Border Patrol bosses in Del Rio, El Paso, where the worst, the worst offenses with respect to illegal border crossings are occurring, just to come before a committee. No one’s heard them,” Comer said during a discussion at the National Press Club.
“This is a priority that we campaigned on in the midterm election: trying to secure the border,” Comer said. “We need to hear from people on the front lines as to, ‘What’s your advice? You’re fighting this battle every day. What can we do to help you?’ But Mayorkas won’t let them come.”
Earlier this month, Comer set a hearing for Feb. 7 and summoned Border Patrol sector chiefs Jason Owens of Del Rio, Texas, Gloria Chavez of the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Gregory Bovino of El Centro, California, and acting Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel of Yuma, Arizona.
The agents would have testified about their experiences working through the coronavirus pandemic and the most challenging period in the agency’s 98 years, as more people have tried to enter the country illegally than any period before. Comer has not revealed who will testify in their place.
However, Comer did not mention in his public appearance that the Department of Homeland Security had informed him on Jan. 26 that the national chief of the Border Patrol would be available to testify publicly in the hearing and the four other agents could speak with lawmakers in a private briefing.
“As we relayed to your staff in discussions last week, Department protocol has long dictated that an agency or significant component head should be provided with the priority option to appear before Congress in matters that the component or agency oversees,” states the letter to Comer from Bryn McDonough, acting DHS assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
The Biden administration and Comer’s Oversight staff told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that no decision had been made on who will testify next week.
Since President Joe Biden took office two years ago, more than 5.2 million noncitizens have been encountered by federal law enforcement attempting to enter the United States without authorization.
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee will commence this week the first of its own series of hearings on the border crisis on Feb. 1.
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The judiciary body’s decision to focus first on the state of the U.S.-Mexico border is especially significant given the GOP’s calls to impeach Mayorkas. The judiciary committee is the final committee that impeachment articles must be approved through before going to the House floor.
