WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, on Tuesday called for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the southern border crisis.
“Secretary Mayorkas has lied repeatedly to Congress and to the American people about the crisis at the border and has time and again put politics over border security,” she claimed in a released statement. “At a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in May, I asked him directly about the Biden Administration releasing illegal immigrants into the country without court dates. He told me the appearance rate was ‘extraordinarily high.’ Following media reports, we learned this was a blatant lie.”
Hinson has pressed U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials for details regarding illegal immigrants released into the interior through through direct questioning, official written requests for information, and letters to agency heads.
“I also requested, in writing, that the Administration provide information on the number of illegal immigrants they are releasing into the country and how they are tracking them. It took Secretary Mayorkas five months to spin up a response, and even then, DC bureaucrats refused to answer my basic questions about who was being let into the U.S. and why,” she said.
“Days after I received their responses, documents were leaked to the media revealing that the Administration has been releasing a shockingly high number of illegal immigrants—over 160,000 since March—into the country with no supervision or method of tracking them. I have been asking for this information to be made public for months – and calling for an end to open border policies for just as long,” Hinson added.
She noted that DHS had the information all along and accused the Department of hiding from Americans their lack of enforcing immigration laws, adding they are “playing games with our national security.”
“Iowans expect and deserve accountability and transparency from their leaders, especially those charged with protecting American families. Not only has the border crisis spiraled out of control on Secretary Mayorkas’s watch, but he has been lying to the American people about it,” Hinson said.
“Secretary Mayorkas has failed in his duties as Secretary of Homeland Security and should tender his resignation. This is not a call I make lightly, but we are out of time, and there is a dangerous void in leadership from this Administration at the border. His replacement should commit to securing our border, providing our Border Patrol Agents with the support they need, and being accountable to and truthful with the American people about immigration policy,” Hinson argued.
