House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green sent a letter late Wednesday to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking that he fulfill 173 outstanding requests from the committee for documents, information and briefings, according to a copy of the request first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Green is handling the impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas over the crisis at the southern border and the committee is holding the second hearing in the process Thursday. Under Mayorkas’ leadership, illegal immigration has surged to record levels with Border Patrol recording more than 2.2 million migrant encounters at the southern border in fiscal year 2022 and more than 2 million in fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.
Fiscal year 2024 already saw a record-setting month in December, with more than 300,000 migrant encounters, according to Fox News.
The committee previously sent 51 letters, 41 of which “remain either partially or entirely unsatisfied, totaling 173 outstanding request items,” the letter reads.
“The Department’s lack of transparency is disconcerting and unacceptable. Despite the Committee’s repeated follow ups on its letters and efforts to engage the Department to prioritize outstanding requests, the Department continues to obstruct our investigations,” Green wrote.
“The Department has failed to confirm receipt of letters; failed to provide substantive responses to letters; provided wholly redacted or illegible documents; ignored requests for prioritization discussions; refused to provide reasonable production timelines; and even allegedly failed to forward a Committee letter to the appropriate component. The Department’s consistent failures necessitated two subpoenas for outstanding information. To date, the Department still has not fully satisfied either subpoena,” Green wrote.
The outstanding requests involve information on the vetting of migrants, including those on the terror watchlist, Mayorkas’ previous testimony where he didn’t appear to know about smugglers using wristbands at the southern border and the status of a DHS official who celebrated Hamas’ attack against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, according to the letter.
Mayorkas has also yet to give in-person testimony requested by the committee as part of his impeachment proceedings and Green sent a letter Wednesday to the DHS secretary, giving him 10 days to submit written testimony.
Leading up to the impeachment proceedings, Green led a probe into Mayorkas on the department’s alleged waste of taxpayer money, his alleged flouting of laws and lying to Congress.
Jennie Taer on January 18, 2024
