Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Wednesday grilled Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the Biden administration’s border program allowing migrants to enter through ports of entry via a phone application.
Mayorkas testified before the House Judiciary Committee hearing entitled, “Oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” During the hearing, Gaetz pressed Mayorkas on the issue of the Biden administration’s use of the phone app known as CBP One to permit migrants to come into the U.S. at ports of entry along the southern border. (RELATED: Mayorkas To Testify To Congress That Biden’s Border Strategy ‘Is Working’)
When he raised the issue of CBP One, Gaetz asked Mayorkas to disclose the number of illegal immigrants he’s deported that have crossed during his tenure, emphasizing limits the DHS secretary placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mayorkas limited ICE arrests and deportations solely to those who pose threats to national security, public safety and border security in September 2021.
“I’m asking about a subset that you won’t send home, and the reason that you’re smirking about it and the reason you won’t answer my question is because everybody gets the joke and the sad thing is it’s not just us here, it’s the cartels who get the joke too. And so now what you’ve done to execute this “Mayorkas doctrine,” where so long as you don’t commit a crime, you get to stay here and burden our hospitals, burden our schools, burden our social services, burden our jails, you’ve sent the message to the cartels and then have taken this app and you’ve digitized illegal immigration, and you’ve scaled it to the moon,” Gaetz said.
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The use of CBP One has increased migrant encounters at ports of entry at the southern border, where they reached a new high of 45,026 after hitting 35,000 in May, according to federal data.
“Like, this app that you’ve got everybody downloading is like the Disney Fast Pass into the country, never to be subject to actual removal, just removal proceedings, as you call them. That app doesn’t do any search of their criminal history in their home country, doesn’t it?,” Gaetz said.
“Congressman, I disagree with everything you have said,” Mayorkas said.
Gaetz then doubled down and asked Mayorkas to answer his question.
“Customs and Border Protection screens and vets individuals whom they encounter,” Mayorkas said.
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