WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) today slammed the Biden Administration for ending Title 42 expulsions and called on Chairwoman Maloney to immediately convene a hearing with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the Biden Administration’s plan to manage the anticipated surge in apprehensions.
“President Biden and Democrats never met a COVID mandate they didn’t like—except for Title 42. President Biden continues pandemic mandates for Americans but is ending his use of Title 42 to turn away illegal immigrants at the border on public health grounds. This amounts to a COVID relief package for the cartels who will take advantage of a completely broken and overwhelmed system to profit from drug and human smuggling.
“The radical open borders policies perpetuated by the Biden Administration are reckless and government mismanagement at its worst. Ending Title 42 authority at the border will make President Biden’s border crisis unimaginably worse. Because of President Biden’s open borders agenda, there were two million apprehensions of illegal immigrants and thousands of pounds of fentanyl seized in 2021. Now Biden Administration officials are telling us to prepare for an even greater surge. This massive influx of illegal border crossers will further overwhelm U.S. Border Patrol officers and facilities, which are already operating well beyond their capacity in many sectors. With the Border Patrol completely overwhelmed, there is no doubt that bad actors will exploit the system to bring more fentanyl and other illicit drugs across the border.
“Chairwoman Maloney must immediately convene a hearing with DHS Secretary Mayorkas to hear what plan, if any, the Biden Administration has to manage the anticipated surge in apprehensions at the southern border. The American people deserve answers and accountability.”
Background: Ranking Member Comer and Oversight Committee Republican lawmakers have conducted extensive oversight of President Biden’s border crisis. The lawmakers have written to the Biden Administration 20 times conducting oversight of its border crisis, including requesting information about terrorists apprehended at the border, the decision to halt construction of the border wall, lax interior enforcement, diverting critical pandemic aid to pay for the border crisis, no-bid contracts awarded to a nonprofit with ties to the Biden-Harris transition team, and more.