Border Patrol chiefs will testify before House committees after the first blockade

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

U.S. Border Patrol chiefs will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Tuesday after they first barricaded Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ department.

Last month, committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, sent a letter to the mayor saying the committee would “investigate the Biden administration’s creation and failure to resolve the worst border crisis in American history.” … The American people deserve answers [DHS’] role in undermining the efforts of Customs and Border Protection agents to secure the southern border.”

Four Border Patrol agents overseeing the Southern Border Sector were called to testify: Chief Jason Owens, Gregory Bovino, Gloria Chavez and Acting Chief Patricia McGurk-Daniel. Initially, two were cleared to testify by Mayorkas and two were not.

Agat then threatened to use “compulsory proceedings” to force them to testify. By January 31, Mayorkas agreed to testify on four counts, and Kammer sent him another letter stating, “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially sought to prevent Congress from hearing valuable testimony from Chief Patrol agents, believing that DHS’s internal protocol overruled Congressional. Supervisory privilege I am satisfied that DHS is no longer taking such a position, and will make available as witnesses” four agents.

Comer told reporters at the National Press Club last week that the committee had asked for testimony about “the worst crimes related to illegal border crossings happening, just to come before the committee. … We need to hear from the people on the front lines” to get their advice and how Congress should do their job. can help

The mayor’s initial Jan. 19 letter requested documents and copies of internal communications from DHS, including data on border crossers released by DHS to the U.S. and DHS’s plan to end the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico.” Against which Texas sued. A federal court halted the administration’s plan to shut it down, though Texas maintains the administration is not following the court order.

The letter required the mayors to provide information about the “impact of historic numbers of illegal border crossings on retention rates, staffing, recruitment and morale” of Border Patrol agents. The National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents them, has argued that more agents are retiring under this administration and that hiring and morale are at historic lows.

Comer requested all documents and information about Mayorcas in an ICE memorandum issued in September 2021, which drastically changed enforcement policies. Texas and Louisiana sued to stop it, supported by 19 states that filed a brief with the Supreme Court.

“President [Joe] “Biden’s radical open border agenda has ignited the worst border crisis in American history,” Comer said in a statement last month when he announced the hearing. “The deliberate actions of the Biden administration are fueling human trafficking, fueling drug cartel operations, enabling deadly drugs like fentanyl to flow into American communities, and encouraging illegal immigrants to violate US immigration laws. … Republicans will hold the Biden administration accountable for this ongoing humanitarian, national security and public health crisis that has turned every city into a border town.”

In early January, Biden said that on his first day in office he would send a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress that would expand amnesty to people overstaying in the U.S. He also announced DHS’s new mobile app that allows foreign nationals to seek asylum. Expanding the parole process and creating a new visa process as well as making claims remotely from anywhere in the world. Several states have sued the parole and visa policy, which they argue is illegal.

The hearing comes after Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified in a lawsuit brought by Florida that Biden’s policies increase illegal crossings and an email of his revealed the administration’s plan to mass release 42 headlines in the United States.

Since Biden took office, more than 5 million people from more than 150 countries have entered the United States illegally, and Mallorca has consistently closed its southern border. A record 3.3 million people were reported arrested or apprehended by law enforcement in fiscal year 2022, including nearly 1.8 million in Texas alone, according to Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square.

Several House Republicans have called for the mayor’s impeachment; Two Republicans from Texas and Arizona have each filed separate articles of impeachment. Mayorkas said he was not resigning and blamed the previous administration for the problems he inherited.

NBPC disagreed, tweeting on Monday: “Two years ago we stopped getting any sign of a functional border. It is an out-of-control free-for-all…a disaster zone of massive human misery, death and lawlessness. How long can this country absorb millions of illegal aliens?

“Every day thousands more illegal aliens enter our country by crashing our border between ports of entry. Did Biden think how many millions he was going to shuttle? Is he even aware that many of these people cannot be issued IDs and have no way to check records?

Syndicated with permission from Center Square.