DHS Secretary Refuses to Answer How Many of the 600,000 Known Gotaways Match the Terror Watchlist
(CNSNews.com) – DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday refused to say how many of the 600,000 migrant “gotaways” on the southern border match the terror watchlist.
During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing titled “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,” Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) told the secretary, “It’s already been mentioned today that this year we have 98 people – and that doesn’t include the nine, Secretary Mayorkas, that were reported by your department yesterday in October. So over 100 people have matched the terrorist watchlist, 100 people.
“That’s a 500 percent increase from the encounters the previous year, and regardless of your testimony today under oath that your testimony today that our border is secure. Americans can look at the numbers. We can look at the numbers right here and see from 2017 to 2021, all the way into 2022, Fiscal Year 2022, over 100 people match the terror watchlist,” he said.
“All of you have testified today that you’re worried about terrorism. Really? And you see here are the gotaways, and Secretary Mayorkas, you’ve told me several times under oath that we have operational control of the southern border, and assume that you maintain that, because you testified earlier today, How many of these people match the terror watchlist? How many of the 600,000 known gotaways match the terror watchlist?” Pfluger asked.
MAYORKAS: Congressman, your question points to the very reason why we prioritize national security and public safety in our immigration enforcement efforts. Why--
PFLUGER: Mr. Secretary, … I’m going to reclaim – reclaiming my time. I think that is false. I’ve been to the southern border, and I’ve talked to your Border Patrol agents, and you know what they tell me? That on any given shift, 70 percent of them are relegated to administrative duties. They are not in the field doing the national security mission.
How many of these 600,000 people can you assure the American people that not a single one of these 600,000 people are a threat to our safety, that they don’t match the terror watchlist, that they’re not part of a criminal or transnational organization?
MAYORKAS: (inaudible)
PFLUGER: That’s what your agents have told me, so I’m just taking their word for it.
MAYORKAS: I have the benefit of a vantage point of what the entire border presents as well as what we are doing about it. One of the things we’ve done about the fact that Border Patrol agents were too often--
PFLUGER: Mr. Secretary, answer the question. How many of the 600,000 --- no, we have two minutes left. We don’t have the time to do that. I want to know how many of the 600,000 people match the terror watchlist?
MAYORKAS: Congressman, by definition, they are gotaways—
PFLUGER: So you don’t know. So how can you say that the border is secure. The American people aren’t buying it. We’re not buying it because the deaths that are happening in our communities. I’ve invited you to come with me. I was in Del Rio the day before you got there when the 15,000 Haitians were there. I’ve been to El Paso. I’ve been to the Rio Grande Valley. You’re going to hear more on that later.
Let’s put up another slide, because you’re not going to answer that question. While we’re putting up the next slide, do you maintain that we have operational control of the southern border?
MAYORKAS: Congressman, let me just say one thing very briefly, and then I’ll answer your question. It is very difficult to answer your question when I’m not given the opportunity to do so, number one. Number two, I do feel compelled to correct inaccuracies that are contained in your question for the benefit of the American people—
PFLUGER: The facts that I’ve just stated are reported by you and your department.
MAYORKAS: Congressman, so we are dedicated to resourcing the United States Border Patrol with additional personnel, with additional technology using barriers advisedly where they are most beneficial--
PFLUGER: That’s not my question.
MAYORKAS: -- to deliver enhanced security
PFLUGER: Mr. Secretary, thank you for that. I’ve heard you say, and President Biden – and this is your legacy, okay? The American people can count. We can count. There’s a humanitarian crisis at our southern border. I’ve been down there. You and President Biden continue to ignore this problem, and Fiscal Year 2022 was the deadliest year on record. More than 800 migrants died. Do you remember the 53 that died in a tractor trailer in the heat of July south of San Antonio, Texas? This is the legacy. The American people are demanding that you secure the border. You have testified under oath today that the border is secure. It is not.
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Nightmare is Beginning’ as Title 42 Ends, Says CBP Source
Conservative Coalition Lobbies Against Tens of Billions in Ukraine Aid During Lame-Duck Session
A coalition of conservative activist groups urged lawmakers to oppose additional aid to Ukraine during Congress’s lame-duck session.
The conservative groups wrote to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), likely the next speaker of the House, and current Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), urging the groups “not to rush through another large assistance package for Ukraine during the lame-duck session.”
“Any new aid package to Ukraine should be thoroughly debated, examined, and voted on in the 118th Congress,” the groups emphasized.
This includes Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation, FreedomWorks, the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), America First Policy Institute, American Moment, Defense Priorities, the Center for Renewing America, and other groups affiliated with the Koch network.
The groups contended that granting more aid to Ukraine would create a “moral hazard,” which would lead to European countries contributing “lackluster” amounts to Ukraine:
Finally, it would be a major blunder to rush another massive aid package to Ukraine without first determining the appropriate end-state toward which our expenditures are committed. Having already drawn down our treasuries and emptied our armories of hard-to-replace weaponry, the Congress must demand clear answers from the Biden administration about its goals in Ukraine and how aid will advance them beyond vague allusions to a decisive Ukrainian victory which it doesn’t believe Kyiv can achieve.
President Joe Biden asked Congress on Tuesday for more than $37 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine. Prior reports have suggested that Congress is working on a $50 billion aid package during the lame-duck session.
Congress has appropriated roughly $66 billion in military, economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine; the groups said that passing $50 billion in aid to Ukraine would bring this total to a “staggering” $116 billion.
The groups emphasized that this total would eclipse more than any other country’s annual defense budget.
“That alone should require substantial debate and a standalone vote,” the groups noted.
“Pushing through another aid package during this Congress’ lame-duck session with little debate or consideration for the will of the American people would disregard legislators’ responsibilities to U.S. interests,” the groups concluded in their letter. “The 118th Congress should be sworn in before further deliberations on additional Ukrainian aid occur so that these critical issues can enjoy the thorough debate they deserve by officials who more accurately reflect the current will of the American people.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
Beyond the obvious legislative and fiscal concerns facing Washington, not linking Ukrainian aid to matching agreements with Europe is strategically unsound. These gargantuan sums of financial, humanitarian, and military aid provided by the United States have created a clear moral hazard, contributing to embarrassingly lackluster contributions from America’s wealthy European allies, in whose very region the war is taking place. Even discounting the proposed $50 billion, the United States far surpassed the combined contributions of the European Union and its member states in 2022 in aid to Ukraine. And when counting aid as a percent of total GDP, the United States has contributed more than the nations of Western and much of Central Europe.
The conservative groups said that Congress must demand that the Biden administration state what its strategic goals are for the conflict between Ukraine and Russia:
Finally, it would be a major blunder to rush another massive aid package to Ukraine without first determining the appropriate end-state toward which our expenditures are committed. Having already drawn down our treasuries and emptied our armories of hard-to-replace weaponry, the Congress must demand clear answers from the Biden administration about its goals in Ukraine and how aid will advance them beyond vague allusions to a decisive Ukrainian victory which it doesn’t believe Kyiv can achieve.
President Joe Biden asked Congress on Tuesday for more than $37 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine. Prior reports have suggested that Congress is working on a $50 billion aid package during the lame-duck session.
Congress has appropriated roughly $66 billion in military, economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine; the groups said that passing $50 billion in aid to Ukraine would bring this total to a “staggering” $116 billion.
The groups emphasized that this total would eclipse more than any other country’s annual defense budget.
“That alone should require substantial debate and a standalone vote,” the groups noted.
“Pushing through another aid package during this Congress’ lame-duck session with little debate or consideration for the will of the American people would disregard legislators’ responsibilities to U.S. interests,” the groups concluded in their letter. “The 118th Congress should be sworn in before further deliberations on additional Ukrainian aid occur so that these critical issues can enjoy the thorough debate they deserve by officials who more accurately reflect the current will of the American people.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Nightmare is Beginning’ as Title 42 Ends, Says CBP Source
Editor’s Note: Shortly after this story was published, United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan temporarily stayed his order at the request of the Biden Administration for a period of five weeks “with great reluctance.”
ORIGINAL STORY BELOW
EAGLE PASS, Texas — A source within Customs and Border Protection says an announcement was sent to Border Patrol ordering them to immediately discontinue using Title 42 authority to expel applicable migrants from the United States on Tuesday. The source, not authorized to speak to the media, says “the nightmare is just beginning for us — there is no ‘Plan B’.”
The operating instruction to Border Patrol comes after a court ruling was issued on Tuesday ordering a halt to the use of Title 42 to expel certain migrant cohorts. The ruling was issued by United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the District of Columbia.
The court order will effectively require hundreds of migrants currently detained for removal under Title 42 to be re-examined and re-processed under the legacy Title 8 asylum process. The source says processing migrants under the previous and inefficient asylum pathway will likely result in severe overcrowding at Border Patrol processing facilities. Most will be released into the United States to pursue asylum claims.
It takes less than 15 minutes to process migrants and return them to Mexico and other countries under Title 42, the source explains. Under Title 8, the process more paperwork time and a credible fear hearing with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The source says the processing facility in Eagle Pass, where more than one thousand migrants are apprehended daily, averages more than 2,000 migrants in a space designed to hold half as many. Title 42 allowed the Border Patrol to return citizens of Mexico and many from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The source says the authority has also been utilized to expel Haitian migrants to their home country through ICE flights referred to as “delayed Title 42.”
The source says the authority has kept Haitian migrants at bay and reduced the likelihood of a repeat of the mass migration event in Del Rio in September 2021. That incident saw more than 30,000 Haitian migrants enter the United States near the Del Rio International Bridge and set up a hastily constructed outdoor encampment.
As recently as September, a CNN report estimated more than 10,000 migrants were sheltered in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, opposite McAllen, Texas. Those migrants have been waiting out the enforcement of Title 42. According to the report, many of those were Haitians.
In mid-October, the Biden Administration added Venezuelan migrants to the ranks of those subject to expulsion under the Title 42. According to CBP, nearly 6,000 Venezuelans were expelled to Mexico in October. The source says those Venezuelans are now likely to make quick returns.
Currently, there are more than 1,000 Venezuelan nationals staging in a makeshift camp in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. A recent report describes how the migrants at the camp were waiting for a change in policy to re-enter. The source says Tuesday’s court decision is the opportunity they have been waiting for and expects the large group to rush the border.
The source also expects the cancellation of Title 42 to impact the agency’s ability to fully staff and patrol areas of the border. The increase in case processing requirements will likely lead to further reductions of field patrols from already historic lows, according to the source.
Another added burden of the ruling will focus on immigration courts. There is currently a backlog of nearly 2 million immigration cases before administrative judges as of the end of Fiscal Year 2022. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a Syracuse University research tool, more than 800,000 immigration cases were added to the backlog in FY22.
In FY22, more than 1,100,000 migrants were expelled under the emergency COVID-19 authority. Many of those would have otherwise been allowed to pursue asylum claims and add to the backlog.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Democrats Plot Corporate-Backed DACA Amnesty in Lame Duck Congress: Illegal Aliens ‘Deserve Nothing Less’
Senate Democrats are urging 10 Senate Republicans to join them in passing an amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, enrolled and eligible for former President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in the lame-duck Congress.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) joined Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in calling on 10 Senate Republicans to join them in supporting the DREAM Act.
“We know that it’s important that we pass the DREAM Act in December of this year … when we return from Thanksgiving,because if the House moves as we think it might, politically, it becomes increasingly difficult after the first of next year to take up this issue,” Durbin said.
The plan would give amnesty to 3.3 million illegal aliens enrolled and eligible for Obama’s DACA program, providing them with green cards to remain permanently in the United States and, eventually, gain naturalized American citizenship.
Schumer suggested that the amnesty is necessary to provide businesses with a constant flow of foreign workers to hire as well as replenish lagging native-born American birth rates.
“We’re short of workers, we have a population that is not reproducing on its own at the same level that it used to,” Schumer said. “The only way we’re going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the DREAMers, and all of them.”
As Breitbart News reported in 2017, the amnesty would open a surge of chain migration — where newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the U.S. — ranging from 10 million to 19 million foreign nationals.
Likewise, such an amnesty would cost American taxpayers at least $115 billion by opening Obamacare rolls to newly legalized illegal aliens.
“DREAMers deserve nothing less,” Padilla said. “It is not right that they live year after year, in fear of deportation, after all they have done to make our nation greater.”
Schumer also said the Democrats’ “ultimate goal” is to provide amnesty to all 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living across the U.S.
“We will not stop fighting until we get a fix for DACA, a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, and a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented,” he said.
For years, Durbin and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have been introducing the DREAM Act despite lacking enough support in the Senate to get the amnesty passed. The amnesty enjoys broad support from multinational corporations and the donor class,who are hoping to inflate the U.S. labor market, increase the number of consumers, drive up housing prices, and keep wages at a relatively low level.
Last year, executives with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among others, lobbied House and Senate Republicans to back Durbin and Graham’s DREAM Act. Likewise, the Koch network has long asked Republicans to get behind the amnesty.
As Breitbart News reported, from 2012 to 2018, more than 53,000 illegal aliens were awarded DACA despite having prior arrest records, including for crimes like murder, kidnapping, rape, child pornography, and sex crimes.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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