Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn grilled Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the fentanyl crisis during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Oversight Committee.
The Texas senator pressed Mayorkas over the surging amount of fentanyl cartels are smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border. The DHS secretary has repeatedly insisted that the border is secure, despite fentanyl seizures and illegal migrant encounters increasing drastically in recent years.
“With 108,000 Americans dying of drug overdoses last year alone, with those drugs flooding through the border, you think everything is just hunky dory,” Cornyn said. Just over 108,000 Americans died of drug overdoses for the 12-month period ending in Feb. 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“That is absolutely not true,” Mayorkas said.
Cornyn reflected on his February trip to Kyle, Texas, where he met with Shannon McConville, who lost her 17-year-old son, Kevin, to fentanyl poisoning, as well as another family who lost a 15-year-old son to the drug.
“Mr. Secretary, would you like to take the opportunity here today to apologize to these parents who lost their children because of fentanyl poisoning, because of the policies of your department and the Biden administration?” Cornyn asked. “Would you like to apologize to them?” (RELATED: Biden Admin Hires Impeachment Attorneys To Defend Mayorkas)
“Senator, my heart is with the family of every victim of a drug overdose death,” Mayorkas said.
“Is that an apology?” Cornyn pressed.
“My heart is with the family and the loved ones, and the friends and neighbors of every—” the DHS secretary continued.
“So why don’t you do something about it?” Cornyn asked, cutting Mayorkas off. “Attorney General [Merrick] Garland said this is part of a comprehensive strategy by the cartels to flood these drugs into the United States by overwhelming Border Patrol. You’re clearly losing that battle, and you won’t even apologize to these parents, like many other parents, who’ve lost their teenage children to counterfeit drugs laced with fentanyl.”
Mayorkas said the agency recognizes “the gravity of the challenge” and will address the crisis. Cornyn accused him of refusing to take responsibility for the drug crisis and called for his termination.
“You haven’t been fired. You should be fired,” the senator told Mayorkas. “Because you were carrying out the policies of the Biden administration, and we’ve seen nothing but death and destruction as a result.”