Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) did not hold back in his criticisms against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for the disaster the U.S.-Mexico border has become under his leadership.
Things became heated as Cruz asked Mayorkas if White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was lying when she had stated people are not walking across the border. Mayorkas refused to answer the question, instead saying Cruz was being disrespectful.
Cruz also asked if Mayorkas knew how many illegal immigrants had died at the southern border within the previous fiscal year.
"I do not," Mayorkas replied.
"Of course you don’t! I know how many died, 853!" Cruz bellowed, pointing to a chart showing the 853 deaths are signficantly higher than in years past, going as far back as the 1990s.
During the questioning, Mayorkas revealed he was unaware of what the bracelets looked like that human smugglers put on people to keep track of who has paid and who is set to be taken illegally into the country.
"These are modern-day leg irons because these are children being sold into sex slavery and you don't even know what they are! That is astonishing!" Cruz continued, pressing Mayorkas if he knew the number of children who have been sex trafficked at the southern border.
Mayorkas replied DHS is doing everything it can to go after human smuggling and trafficking operations.
DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas admits he doesn’t know how many migrants have died under Biden.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 28, 2023
Sen. Ted Cruz: “Of course you don’t! I know how many died, 853! … You go back to 1998, you see it's consistently between 300 to 400… Suddenly 2021. What happens? You get in office!” pic.twitter.com/sYPraUXxm2
"If you had integrity, you would resign… You're willing to let children be raped to follow political orders. This is a crisis. It's a disgrace and you won't even admit this tragedy is a crisis," Cruz ended.
Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) gave time for Mayorkas to respond.
"What the Senator said was revolting. I'm not going to address it," he replied.
"Your refusal to do your job is revolting!" Cruz shot back.
.@SenTedCruz to @SecMayorkas: "If you had integrity you would resign!" pic.twitter.com/oVGsBotVSD
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 28, 2023