Credit: CNN
Representative James Comer, Chair of the House Oversight Committee had a lot to say about President Biden’s border policy.
At an Oversight hearing on Tuesday, he slammed Biden’s policies saying that “conditions at the border are dangerous, chaotic, and inhumane.”
Comer also noted during the hearing that the fiscal year of 2022 was a year of records at the border.
Chief John Modlin, one of four border patrol agents testifying before Congress, was also present at the hearing. He elaborated on the record numbers at the border.
“Fiscal year 18, 19, 20, Tucson Sector had about 60,000 apprehensions,” he said.
He added that in 2021, there were 190,000 apprehensions, and then 250,000 in 2022.
He said a vast majority of the encounters at the Tucson Sector are single adult males attempting to avoid detection.
“The smuggling organizations to our south are very well organized and resourceful,” Modlin also said.
“They employ various tactics to use thousands of migrants across the border. … Many are previously deported felons who know they are inadmissible to the United States.”
Gloria Chavez, the chief border patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley Sector, agreed with Modlin’s observation that huge numbers of encounters are with “single adults.”
“Agents continue to face the most egregious of illicit trends,” Chavez said, “such as criminal migrants, gang members, hard narcotics, firearms,” and many other dangerous factors.
Chavex said that illegal smuggling organizations have turned to the use of drones to scout out smuggling pathways and law enforcement locations.
Chavez said that compared to the U.S. Border Patrol, these smuggling organizations “have 17 times the number of drones, twice the amount of flight hours, and unlimited funding to grow their operations.”
Chavez was asked by committee member Rep. Tim Burchett whether she thought the lack of a wall at the border made entry into the U.S. legal. She said, “Well I think it would be easier to walk in an open desert with no barrier.”
Chairman Comer slammed Biden and his administration for their policies. He said that the White House has allowed the border, more specifically the southwestern U.S. border, to descend into madness and at times, deadly chaos.
Comer said conditions at the border are “dangerous, chaotic, and inhumane.”
Earlier, the hearing was a source of a showdown between Comer and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Mayorkas attempted to block several of the chiefs from testifying.
Mayorkas finally relented after Comer threatened to use a “compulsory process” to force the chiefs to appear.
In 2021, a House resolution was filed by Rep. Andy Biggs to impeach Mayorkas for “high crimes and misdemeanors related to his actions regarding border security and immmigration.”
Impeachment proceedings were also brought against Mayorkas last month by Biggs as House Republicans attempted to hold the secretary accountable for his lack of action.
Comer agreed with the attempts to hold Mayorkas accountable and tweeted, “The Biden administration must be held accountable for its dereliction of duty.”
