Mayorkas To Testify To Congress That Biden’s Border Strategy ‘Is Working’

Mayorkas To Testify To Congress That Biden’s Border Strategy ‘Is Working’

Jennie Taer on July 26, 2023

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will testify to Congress Wednesday morning that the Biden administration’s southern border policy “is working,” a department official told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Mayorkas has led DHS through record surges of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on the issue as an increasing number of House Republicans are pushing for his impeachment citing his handling of the southern border.

“Our approach to managing the border securely and humanely, even within our fundamentally broken immigration system, is working. Unlawful entries between ports of entry along the southwest border have consistently decreased by more than half compared to the peak before the end of Title 42. Under President Biden’s leadership, we have led the largest expansion of lawful, safe, and orderly pathways for people to seek humanitarian relief under our laws, at the same time imposing tougher consequences on those who instead resort to the ruthless smuggling organizations that prey on the most vulnerable,” Mayorkas’ testimony states, according to the DHS official.

One of the Biden administration’s key southern border policies has led to a record number of migrants coming through ports of entry using the CBP One phone application. While illegal migrant encounters dropped in the month of June to roughly 99,000, migrant encounters at ports of entry reached a new high of 45,026 after hitting 35,000 in May, according to CBP data.

“We secured the first increase in Border Patrol Agent hiring in more than a decade and our campaign to disrupt and dismantle human smuggling networks has resulted in the arrest of nearly 14,000 smugglers,” his testimony states.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) saw a record of more than 2.3 million migrant encounters at the southern border in fiscal year 2022 and more than 1.7 million between October 2022 and June.

Additionally, Border Patrol agents have also seen a massive surge in apprehensions of illegal migrants on the terror watchlist during Mayorkas’ tenure, with 143 arrests between October 2022 and June, surpassing the 98 in all of fiscal year 2022.

“Americans are safer today – on the border, in the air, at sea, across the country and around the world – because of the Department of Homeland Security,” Mayorkas’ testimony states.

“Our Department and this Congress need to and must work together as partners to address the threats and challenges America faces. We must fix our broken immigration system; fund the continuing protection of local communities; disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations; and implement the latest technologies to advance our mission,” Mayorkas’ testimony states.