Judiciary Committee Senators Slam Biden-Induced Border Crisis, Demand Information about Extent of Crisis and Government Response
“Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden Administration view the flood of illegal immigration resulting from their policies as a process to be managed rather than stopped”
WASHINGTON
– Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee today slammed the Biden
administration’s self-induced border crisis and are pressing officials for
information about how the administration is responding to the crisis amid the
ongoing pandemic.
“Regardless
of what the Biden Administration wants to call this current set of
circumstances it has created, this surge in illegal immigration carries
significant risks. It also imposes a heavy burden on public resources. Congress
and the American people must have additional clarity about how DHS and HHS are
addressing it,” the senators wrote.
In
a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human
Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the senators highlighted the serious
problems with Biden administration proposals and actions that have both
encouraged more migrants to make the dangerous journey across Mexico to the
southern border and allowed for the quicker release of individuals into the
interior of the country as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Each
of the last two months has set records for both overall numbers of immigrant
apprehensions and numbers of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) crossings. The
Biden administration has lifted the public health restrictions under Title 42
for UAC, and has used the surge at the border to justify its reinstatement of
“catch and release” policies.
“Catch-and-release
policies pose additional risks to public health in the midst of the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden Administration has expressed a purported
commitment to ending the pandemic; however, news reports suggest that it now
plans to keep some who are apprehended by DHS personnel in custody for just 72
hours before releasing them into American communities,” the senators argued.
The
letter seeks a wide range of information from both the Departments of Homeland
Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) including, a breakdown of
how many individuals have been detained since inauguration day, the numbers of
those tested and vaccinated for COVID-19, and the duration of time individuals
are in custody before and after testing. The senators also request DHS’s
projections for how many migrants will cross the border this year, and the
medical reasons for exempting UAC from Title 42 entry restrictions.
The
letter is led by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) and signed by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh
Hawley (R-Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Marsha Blackburn
(R-Tenn.) and John Kennedy (R-La.).
Full
text of the letter can be found HERE.
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