By John Haughey
ORLANDO, Fla.—House Republicans will redouble their efforts this spring and summer to convince the Democrat-held Senate to adopt eight proposed immigration reform measures that are matriculating through the lower chamber, two key GOP committee chairs affirmed March 20.
While that’s not necessarily breaking news, Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) made it clear they want a head to roll—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“The situation is dire” at the nation’s southern border, Green told reporters at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando during the second day of a three-day House GOP retreat sponsored by the Washington-based Congressional Institute, noting the United States Border Patrol reports nearly 5 million undocumented people have crossed the border in the last 26 months.
“There are 30 states with populations less than that,” he said. “This is all the failure of Secretary Mayorkas.”
Green said while 5-to-6 million illegal aliens being documented at the border is alarming, even more “startling” are the estimated 1.3 million “got-aways” who elude contact with border agents and law enforcement.
Mayorkas testified in April 2022 that DHS and the Border Patrol had “operational control” of the border, but during hearings last week, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified that the border authorities do not have “operational control” of the border.
In fact, Ortiz told the congressional panel, Mexican drug cartels are now exerting more influence on who comes and goes across the border than the U.S. or Mexican governments.
That means, Green said, Mayorkas is “either he’s an idiot or he’s a liar. It is that simple. We’ll get to the bottom of that.”
Three Border Questions
Jordan said he had three questions related to the “border crisis.”
“How does this happen?” he asked and then answered by saying a new administration came in, said it was not going to build a wall, and is “no longer going to detain” those who enter illegally.
“Why does it matter?” he asked and then said GOP-led House committees have made six trips for field hearings on the border, nearly all boycotted by Democrats.
Democrats not attending the border field hearings is a mistake, Jordan said, noting one in Yuma, Arizona, drew a standing-room-only crowd.
“They had to turn people away,” he said. “I’ve never seen that kind of turnout before in a field hearing on a Wednesday afternoon. They know how serious this problem is. That is what really stood out to me—the number of people” showing up to discuss issues at the border.
The third question is, “What do you do to fix it?” Jordan asked, pointing to eight bills being pondered in the House Homeland Security Committee and other panels.
“Basically,” he said, “those bills go back to what was working.”
Green said he expects Democrats to support some of the bills, including those calling for higher pay for Border Patrol agents and a new Border Patrol Academy
He also expects them to raise issues about the number of U.S.-made firearms going across the border, arming the cartels, and exacerbating criminal violence in Mexico.
And maybe they have a point, Green said.
“We inspect a lot of folks coming in,” he said. “We need to start looking at folks going out.”
