The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security released its third interim report on the border crisis on Oct. 10, this time highlighting what it called the human cost of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ handling of the border crisis.
Earlier this year, the committee, which is led by Chairman Mark E. Green (R-Tenn.), launched an oversight investigation into the causes and consequences of the crisis at the southwest border.
An investigation into the matter remains ongoing.
Mr. Mayorkas’ “open-border policies, his rolling back of effective border security policies, and his refusal to enforce the laws passed by Congress matter not just in the realm of legal debate. Rather, his opening of America’s sovereign borders to millions of illegal aliens, cartel operatives, known criminals, gang members, potential terrorists, and foreign adversaries has produced profound, tangible, and tragic consequences that are impacting every state, city, and town in this nation,” the report begins.
The report further claims that the fentanyl crisis “sparked and made even worse by his policies continues to grow, devastating families and communities across the country.”
Migrants Dying
The report also notes that the individuals attempting to make the treacherous journey to cross the border and enter the United States illegally have “become victims of Mayorkas’ coldly calculated, political decision to open the border.”“As millions of people have put themselves needlessly in the hands of cartels and smugglers to make the journey to the Southwest border, an untold number have suffered violence, degradation, and abuse at the hands of these ruthless organizations, while countless others have perished or simply been left to die in the jungles and deserts along the way,” the GOP-controlled House Committee on Homeland Security report states.
According to the report, since the Biden administration opened its borders, more than 1,700 migrants have been found dead on U.S. soil after trying to enter the country illegally. Over the four years prior to fiscal year 2021, the number of dead migrants found by the Border Patrol at the Southwest border never exceeded 300, the report states.
Cartels Enriched by ‘Open-Border Policies’
Elsewhere, the House Committee on Homeland Security report noted the increasing impact illegal immigration has had on rising crime and public safety in the United States, claiming that the number of criminal illegal aliens apprehended by Border Patrol has “skyrocketed” since Mr. Mayorkas took office, including those guilty of violent offenses such as homicide, sexual assault, and domestic violence.“Americans are becoming victims of illegal alien crime on a regular basis, as DHS continues to release unvetted aliens, including gang members and convicted criminals, into the interior,” the report states.
The report concludes that the last several years of Mr. Mayorkas’ leadership have “proven what those who believe in the rule of law and secure borders have known all along—open borders are a humanitarian, public safety, and public health disaster.”
According to the committee, the DHS secretary’s “open-borders policies” have “not only enriched the cartels that increasingly control the Southwest border” but have “come at the cost of human lives and livelihoods, those of American citizens and migrants alike.”
Mr. Mayorkas has previously fended off criticism over his handling of the southern border, including calls from Republican lawmakers to eliminate his salary.
In July, a DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times, “Secretary Mayorkas is proud to advance the noble mission of this Department, support its extraordinary workforce, and serve the American people.
“The Department will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border, protect the nation from terrorism, and improve our cybersecurity, all while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system,” the spokesperson said. “Instead of pointing fingers and pursuing baseless attacks, Congress should work with the Department and pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in decades.”
A DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: “While the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe. Instead of continuing their reckless attacks, Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix.”
This spokesperson also countered various aspects of the report, noting that DHS has “significantly invested in stopping dangerous drugs from entering the country, seizing more fentanyl, and arresting more criminals for fentanyl-related crimes in the last two years than in the previous five years combined” and redoubled its efforts to combat human smuggling and trafficking.
