On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did away with precedent and constitutional duty to dismiss impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. On Thursday, Mayorkas appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, with the exchange between him Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) making Schumer's move even more infuriating.
In February, Jose Antonio Ibarra, here illegally from Venezuela, allegedly murdered 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia. He had also been arrested previously in Athens and New York City. As if the response from the Biden administration hasn't been infuriating enough, Hawley caught Mayorkas in a web of lies.
Mayorkas tried to stick to how he was "not going to speak about the facts of a case, because there is an ongoing criminal investigation." That didn't stop Hawley from bringing up some realities about how outrageous such a case is.
"See, I find this interesting," Hawley said about how Mayorkas wouldn't even say if he read Ibarra's parole file, "because this is a new answer today. You changed your answers all over the map on this, and it looks like to me you just don't want to answer the question!"
On the other side of the Capitol today, DHS confirmed that Ibarra was paroled ILLEGALLY. ⬇️ https://t.co/ugHlTTZu4E
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) April 16, 2024
"Two days ago you were asked about this, in the House Homeland Security Committee," Hawley brought up, reminding how Mayorkas responded "I don't know" and that "I don't have the case details with me today" when asked by Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) why Ibarra was paroled. He also indicated to Bishop "I would be pleased to provide them to you, congressman."
On April 10, Mayorkas had given yet another different answer to Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), who asked the same question. Mayorkas told Britt "there was no derogatory information of which we were aware."
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Katie Britt Asks Alejandro Mayorkas Directly Why Laken Riley's Alleged Murderer Was Released By DHS pic.twitter.com/XtUGZ2qkH5
— floridahillbilly (@FloridaHillbill) April 12, 2024
"So you were happy to comment on the case then, on April the 10th, by April the 16th you had developed amnesia, and today you say you just won't comment," Hawley said. "So which is it, Mr. Secretary? Now that we have the file, I'll tell you what the difference is, Congressman Bishop didn't have the parole file, and Senator Britt didn't have the parole file, and now we do have the parole file, and now we all know the reason he was paroled into this country was because of 'lack of detention capacity,' which as you and I both know, is not a valid reason under the statue," he pointed out.
"This is right out of the parole file," Hawley made clear as he read, all while Mayorkas remained silent. "Here it is! 'Subject was paroled due to detention capacity at the central processing center in El Paso, Texas.' Now suddenly you don't want to talk about it. This is extraordinary! It's also a pattern with you."
When Hawley asked Mayorkas again about the parole file, and he claimed he was "going to give the same answer," the senator cleverly cut in to ask "which one?" As Mayorkas tried once more to say he wasn't going to speak to it at all, Hawley offered "of course you don't want to, because it is an absolutely damning indictment of your policies!"
The senator then discussed Ibarra's timeline. He was encountered by Border Patrol on September 8, 2022 in El Paso and paroled due to "lack of detention capacity," with Hawley again reminding that the statute does not allow for such release.
"You and I both know you know this," Hawley chided Mayorkas. "You knew it when you were talking to Congressman Bishop! You knew it when you were testifying before Senator Britt, and you know it today! You just never wanted to cop to it, because the statute doesn't permit it. And so you lied to Congressman Bishop, and you lied to Senator Britt, and now you are hiding behind the ongoing prosecution excuse, because it's the last one left to you, because you testified falsely under oath!"
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also read from DHS files on Tuesday about how Ibarra had been paroled illegally in September 2022. As Spencer mentioned in his coverage:
According to federal law the Biden administration is supposed to follow, parole can only be granted by the secretary of Homeland Security — currently the impeached Alejandro Mayorkas — on a case-by-case basis when there is an "urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit" in paroling a specific illegal alien.
To put a finer point on it, the Biden administration illegally released Ibarra due to the overwhelming surge of illegal aliens brought on by policies enacted by the Biden administration.
Then, on July 19, 2023 Ibarra appeared for a biometric appointment in New York, where it was revealed he had a criminal history. He was arrested on September 14, 2023 for injuring a child. "What happens? The offense was never prosecuted and the arrest was expunged," Hawley mentioned, explaining he was "reading right out of the parole file."
"Nothing is done to this guy! He had a criminal record to start with, he's in the country on illegal grounds, you have falsely and illegally allowed him in, he commits a crime against a child, he's not prosecuted, it's expunged," Hawley passionately reminded.
In November, "get this," Hawley continued to explain, Ibarra actually filed for employment authorization, "and unbelievably" it was approved on December 9. "So, this is your policies in action, Mr. Secretary, a criminal is permitted into this country on grounds flatly not permitted, flatly contradictory to the statute, he commits a crime against a child, and then he gets a work permit! He gets a work permit!"
That brings us to "the heinous crime against Laken Riley" committed in February. Hawley then asked Mayorkas, "is this a record that you are proud of?"
Mayorkas' non-response claimed Hawley "misstated some facts," prompting the senator to insist he was reading from the parole file, "which you have said you don't recall, don't have, you miscited, I'm reading from it, it is right here," with Hawley pointing out he also had just read into the record pursuant to the Speech and Debate Clause.
Hawley also reminded Mayorkas that "you have lied repeatedly to Congress, and to the American people about this. They deserve to know, and the only way they're going to know is if I tell them. I've just told them. It's in the record now, I've read it verbatim from the parole file, verbatim."
Hawley then asked Mayorkas about his constantly changing story. "I just wanted to know why did you change your story so often? Why didn't you just answer honestly to Congressman Bishop and Senator Britt?"
The secretary claimed as part of his non-answer that "I am confident that justice will be vindicated in the criminal prosecution of the case," prompting Hawley to respond with "hopefully he'll get more of a trial than you got, otherwise there'll be no justice for anyone at all."
Mayorkas also did not know the name of 12-year-old Travis Wolfe, a Missouri boy who died weeks after he sustained injuries from a car crash on December 20, 2023. The head-on collision was caused by illegal immigrant, Endrina Bracho, from Venezuela. Mayorkas didn't know of Bracho either, who has since been charged with six criminal counts, though he communicated his sympathy for Wolfe's family.
"Mr. Secretary, I know that you think your policies are a success, you've sat right there and you told me over and over, 'our policies are working.' You're on the record, years and years saying that. Maybe they're working for you, maybe they're working for your political objectives, whatever they may be, I don't know. But they're not working for Laken Riley or Travis Wolfe, or the people of my state. They are in fact a travesty, what you have done is a travesty," Hawley said to conclude his questioning as Mayorkas awkwardly sat there and looked around, before he also pointed out it's "long past time for you to go."
Senator @HawleyMO pins DHS Secretary Mayorkas into a corner:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 18, 2024
MAYORKAS: "I will not speak to the particulars of the case..."
HAWLEY: "Of course you don't want to, because it is an absolutely DAMNING INDICTMENT of your policies!"
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/h6LYRkJaD5
When it comes to that "lack of detention capacity," The Washington Times covered how Mayorkas has requested less beds:
Detention capacity has also been a problem in the country’s interior, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the chief deportation agency, has been struggling to hold people.
Even as he’s acknowledged a lack of ICE beds, Mr. Mayorkas has asked Congress to cut bed space further in every budget he’s submitted.
Detention space for illegal immigrants has been a major problem for the Biden administration. Even as he’s acknowledged a lack of beds, Mr. Mayorkas has asked Congress to cut bed space even deeper in every budget he’s submitted.
In 2022, 2023 and 2024 he asked lawmakers to reduce bed space from 34,000 to 25,000. Congress rebuffed each of those and even upped the number to 41,500 beds in the new bill.
Mr. Mayorkas‘ latest budget again calls for a cut, this time back down to 34,000.
He told senators, though, that he would be willing to accept money for more than 50,000 beds if it’s coupled with other changes in immigration law.
Such an exchange highlighting Mayorkas' lies with his changing answers to different members of Congress would be significant on any day, but it's even more so given that it comes just a day after Schumer protected the secretary from any accountability via an impeachment trial.
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