House Republicans are demanding information from embattled Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding recent comments he reportedly made that more than 85% of illegal immigrants apprehended at the southern border are released into the U.S.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, wrote a letter Monday to Mayorkas about what he said during a private meeting with Border Patrol agents on Jan. 8 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Mayorkas, who is facing an impeachment inquiry by House Republicans over the Biden administrations' lax border enforcement policies, was pressed by the agents about an interview he gave earlier this month in which he said "it would not surprise me at all" if the release numbers were greater than 70%, the New York Post reported Jan. 9.
Agents believed the release rate was higher, the Post reported, and Mayorkas conceded it was currently above 85%.
"Such an astronomical release rate shows a flagrant disrespect for the rule of law and for those Americans and legal immigrants who abide by the law," the lawmakers wrote. "Your frank admission about DHS's release rate demands our attention."
The lawmakers requested Mayorkas provide them with information by Feb. 5, including: all data regarding his admission about the 85% release rate; all documents and communications between or among DHS or its components from Jan. 20, 2021, the first day President Joe Biden took office, to the present relating to the 85% release rate; and a numerical breakdown of all illegal alien releases at the southwest border since Jan. 20, 2021, by release category, including the statutory basis for the release.
"The incentives created by the Biden Administration's radical open-border policies continue to drive illegal immigration into the United States," the lawmakers wrote. "Illegal aliens continue to cross our southwest border because they know that more likely than not, the Biden Administration will release them into the U.S."
"To make matters worse, the illegal aliens know that they will then be given a plane or bus ticket — at U.S. taxpayer expense — to whatever U.S. destination they desire."
In an email to Newsmax, a DHS spokesperson said: "DHS responds to congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight."