Republicans on the House Oversight Committee lambasted the Biden administration days ahead of the midterm elections for failing to answer its more than a dozen requests for information on how it will regain control of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 19 GOP members condemned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for defying the legislative body’s oversight of its actions over the past 20 months, as more illegal immigrants were arrested at the southern border than in former President Barack Obama’s entire eight years in office.
BORDER PATROL AGENT ATTACKED BY FLAGPOLE-WIELDING IMMIGRANT IN EL PASO: CBP
“Fiscal Year 2022 was an abject failure for border security and national sovereignty. In fact, it was the worst on record in American history,” House Committee on Oversight and Reform ranking member James Comer (R-KY) and Republican lawmakers wrote in a letter sent Wednesday. “We cannot endure another year of the Biden Administration’s failed border policies. We have written DHS fifteen times this Congress to conduct oversight over the border crisis.
“Again, we request documents and information to understand the Biden Administration’s plans, if any, to secure the border,” the Republicans added.
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In the government’s most recent fiscal year, which ended in September, border officials encountered a record-high number of immigrants on the terror watch list and deceased immigrants, seized more fentanyl than any other year, and saw an all-time high of a quarter-million unaccompanied children come across the border.
The Republicans said the Biden administration and Democrats were beholden to a double standard by refusing to acknowledge the extent of the present situation at the 2,000-mile southern border.
In 2019, fewer than 1 million people were encountered at the border, less than half the number encountered in 2022.
“Under the prior administration, Fiscal Year 2019 was a year in which both Democrats and Republicans declared a crisis at the southern border,” the letter states. “The Biden Administration, however, refuses to acknowledge this current, unprecedented and deadly crisis. Vice President Harris even claims that the border is ‘secure’ and insists that ‘[w]e have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration.’”
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Republicans asked Mayorkas to preserve all communications and records related to his department’s border operations in a sign that Republicans are preparing for tougher oversight next year if they win back the House majority and control of the agenda.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
