Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas informed lawmakers Tuesday that the US-Mexico border is “as safe as it may be” — including that he didn’t “recall” admitting earlier this yr that more than 85% of migrants apprehended on the southern frontier are launched into the US.
Mayorkas — who faces an impeachment trial within the Senate later this week partly for mendacity to Congress concerning the border being “safe” — denied that allegation throughout a price range listening to earlier than the Home Homeland Safety Committee.
“With the authorities and the funding that we’ve, it’s as safe as it may be,” the 64-year-old Mayorkas informed Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) within the DHS chief’s first look earlier than the panel since his impeachment.
Home Republicans impeached Mayorkas in February for offering deceptive testimony final yr about US border safety and failing to implement immigration legislation since President Biden took workplace in January 2021.
Since then, greater than 9 million migrants have been apprehended illegally crossing into the US, in accordance with Customs and Border Safety (CBP) statistics, with greater than 7.5 million of these encounters occurring on the southern border.
That excludes one other 1.8 million identified “gotaways” who weren’t caught when coming into the nation.
Nationwide Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd has confirmed to The Post that he was current when Mayorkas stated throughout a January sit-down with brokers that “greater than 85%” of these migrants are later launched into the US.
Three Border Patrol sources current for the assembly additionally confirmed that “above 85%” had been being launched, according to Fox News, which first reported the trade.
“I don’t recall that trade in an inside assembly with the workforce, and let me guarantee you that the safety of the southern border is our highest precedence,” Mayorkas informed Rep. Michael Visitor (R-Miss.) when requested Tuesday.
The big inflow has led to a record-breaking backlog of more than 3 million court hearings for asylum seekers — with some scheduling appearances as far prematurely as 2035 and lots of not exhibiting as much as subsequent hearings after acquiring work permits.
Judd additionally informed The Publish in a cellphone interview Tuesday that Mayorkas’ failure to deport those that don’t seem for his or her follow-up immigration hearings constitutes “dereliction of responsibility” on the secretary’s half.
“As soon as they’ve been ordered [to be] deported, they have to be eliminated — and he’s not doing that,” Judd stated.
No less than 159 migrants encountered at ports of entry nationwide, and one other 76 caught between these ports since Oct. 1 have suspected ties to terrorism, different CBP knowledge show, with latest reviews revealing how the damaging border crossers are being released into the country.
Requested by Pfluger whether or not folks on the US terror watchlist had been nonetheless “at giant” or had been apprehended, Mayorkas refused to reply immediately.
“Let me guarantee you, Congressman, that the protection and safety of the American folks is our highest precedence,” he stated.
When Pfluger pressed that FBI Director Christopher Wray “had the braveness to reply the query” and confirmed not all had been throughout a November 2023 listening to, Mayorkas replied that the suspects had been a “precedence for detention.”
Mayorkas additionally got here beneath fireplace through the Tuesday price range listening to for slicing down on beds in detention areas for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and never fielding sufficient Border Patrol brokers to apprehend migrants.
“Your actions and directives stay unchanged. You’ve doubled down,” stated Homeland Safety Committee Chairman Mark Inexperienced (R-Tenn.), who led the drive to question Mayorkas. “This price range request displays this obstinance.”
Senate Democrats are expected to scuttle the secretary’s trial on Wednesday — regardless of strain from Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republicans to carry Mayorkas accountable.
“The Biden border disaster is the primary precedence of Home Republicans, and it stays the primary precedence of the American folks,” Johnson informed Fox Information on Wednesday.
“Now we’re transmitting it to the Senate and we’re demanding that [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-NY] have the total trial, that they hear the proof, allow us to put it on for the American folks after which take away this particular person from workplace,” he stated.
“Secretary Mayorkas is, in my opinion, the worst cupboard secretary that has ever served within the historical past of america. It’s a disaster that was dedicated by design. They allowed this.”
Democrats like Homeland Safety Committee rating member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) have rejected the impeachment push as a “partisan stunt,” whereas becoming a member of with Biden and Mayorkas to name for the passage of a $118 billion bipartisan border security bill that Republicans rejected in February.
The Senate laws failed to realize sufficient procedural votes beneath bipartisan opposition, with congressional Republicans main the cost in opposition to it and former President Donald Trump decrying it as a “great gift to the Democrats.”
