Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee are demanding that Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney hold a hearing on the record number of illegal immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2021 fiscal year.
“We must hold senior Biden Administration officials to account and understand what they are doing to address this crisis and meet their obligations under the law,” Texas Rep. Pat Fallon and Kentucky Rep. James Comer wrote Tuesday to Maloney, in a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller. The 1.7 million illegal immigrants arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was the most ever at the U.S. southern border, and the third-most overall. More than 213,500 illegal immigrants were arrested at the southern border in July, setting a one-month record. (RELATED: ICE Officials Made The Lowest Number Of Arrests In At Least A Decade: REPORT)
Read the letter here:
Letter to Maloney Re Border… by Michael Ginsberg
“We once again ask you to schedule a hearing to conduct oversight on the crisis at the southwest border and
the Biden Administration’s plans to get control of the situation. The Committee should hear from Administration witnesses to understand whether there is a strategy, and if so, what the strategy is to address the crisis,” the letter continued.
President Joe Biden has not yet visited the southern border since taking office, and Vice President Kamala Harris, tasked with addressing the root causes of migration, has visited only once.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas admitted to border officials in August that the U.S. immigration system “isn’t built for” such a rapid influx. He described the situation as “unsustainable,” adding that the U.S. “can’t continue like this.”
Mayorkas had previously defended the Biden administration’s handling of the immigration crisis during congressional testimony.
“Since this President has taken office, the security of our southern border has severely deteriorated. This administration’s decision to disregard any success achieved by their predecessors is making our nation less safe by the day,” Fallon told the Daily Caller. “My Oversight Republican colleagues and I have previously requested three separate hearings on the southern border crisis — all have fallen on deaf ears. It’s time that Americans received the answers they deserve. The only way for that to happen is for Chairwoman Maloney to grant the House Oversight and Reform Committee our well overdue hearing on the mess this administration has created.”
Republicans have repeatedly complained about a lack of hearings investigating the Biden administration.
“Under Democrat leadership, the House Oversight and Reform Committee is refusing to hold President Biden accountable and meet its core mission of identifying and preventing government waste, fraud, and abuse. Republicans have demanded dozens of hearings and investigations into important issues facing this country—nearly all requests have fallen on deaf ears,” Comer previously told the Daily Caller.