WASHINGTON, D.C. — The setup was like a typical congressional hearing. There were members of Congress, witnesses, cameras, and members of the press, including yours truly. But what was atypical about the hearing was the location.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, led by Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA), were having the ad-hoc hearing at FreedomWorks, a conservative grassroots advocacy group, because Democrats have been preventing them from holding hearings about the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats are the current majority and can dictate if such hearings take place, according to the congressional members.
"We've repeatedly requested that congressional committees hold hearings to investigate the state of the border crisis and the policies that created that crisis but we are sitting here off campus because Democrat chairs have no interest in this! Neither does the Biden administration nor will they even give us access to rooms and facilities to hold these types of hearings," Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said in his opening remarks.
The over two-hour hearing covered several issues that have been exacerbated at the southern border and within the United States. When it came to a recent video that leaked showing the transportation of immigrants who were being transported by air into the U.S. in the dead of night, Joseph Edlow, former acting director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said he does not know what authority the Biden administration is using to justify taking single adult males away from the border and dropping them off further into the country.
"Those are the ones where I'm really not sure what the authority is to release these individuals to outside the border in the first place," Edlow said, adding that he is assuming the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is placing the adult men away from the border because they are illegally crossing in areas where the Migrant Protection Protocols are not in place.
"Why are they not Title 42? I have no idea why these individuals are not appropriate for Title 42...What is the authority then to release these individuals away from the border? There is none. There's no parole authority that exists under law that I'm aware of that would allow DHS summarily release these individuals and put on these flights," he explained.
President of the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd testified that Border Patrol agents have been bogged down with processing family units and children who willingly give themselves up. Since Title 42 largely does not apply to them, agents are unable to catch the drug smugglers who are bringing in hardcore drugs like fentanyl.
"We have allowed the criminal cartels to create billions of dollars in revenue at the expense of U.S. citizens who [died] at a record rate in 2021," Judd said.
"American citizens are dead because of policies that are failing to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, true or false?" Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) asked.
"That is absolutely correct," Judd replied.
Russell Johnson, a New Mexico cattle rancher and former Border Patrol agent, testified the border wall system that was built under former President Donald Trump was a welcomed addition to his ranch, but because the wall construction was stopped by President Biden there is now a gap along his ranch, which has led to more illegal traffic being funneled through his property.
Todd Bensman, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, explained on a recent trip to Mexico's southern border he discovered the United Nations has been providing money cards to the migrants so they have resources to continue their journey to the U.S.-Mexico border.
"I found my first clue on a Rio Grande riverbank on the Mexican side: a discarded [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]-stamped booklet advising in great detail how migrants can and should travel north with the greatest chance of safety and success. Later, in Reynosa, Mexico, I witnessed the United Nations grantee, the IOM, hand out cash debit cards to migrants in long, snaking lines. The workers handing them out said they give $400 every 15 days to families of four, renewable every two weeks," Bensman said.
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