Mayorkas Set for Return to Hot Seat for Hearing on Threats at Border

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to face a barrage of questions regarding the security threats at America’s southern border at another hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. 

Mayorkas is set to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee at a hearing on “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland.”

The homeland security chief recently testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Nov. 8 and before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Oct. 31.

“Secretary Mayorkas has been very good at evading answers throughout all of his testimonies,” says James Massa, the CEO of NumbersUSA, a group that advocates for lower rates of immigration, adding that he expects Mayorkas “to be evasive again.” 

“He has deferred to not wanting to answer specific numbers, not wanting to answer countries of origin, not wanting to answer how any terrorist who’s already been apprehended—and there’s almost 170 of them that were on the FBI terrorist watchlist—how they handle them and what they do with them,” Massa says of Mayorkas. 

During fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, Border Patrol encountered a record 169 illegal aliens on America’s terrorist watchlist between ports of entry at the southern border. 

Given growing concerns over who is crossing America’s borders in the wake of Hamas’ cross-border attack on Israel in October, Republican lawmakers have indicated they will remind Mayorkas of the ways the Biden administration is “falling short” on border security and will press the secretary on what his border security plan is going forward. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Christine Abizaid, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will also testify alongside Mayorkas. 

For months, Republicans have indicated they may attempt to impeach Mayorkas. On Monday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., brought a vote to impeach Mayorkas to the House floor through a rule that allows one member to call for a vote on a resolution. The vote failed 209 to 201, with eight Republicans joining all Democrats to block the secretary’s impeachment.

Massa joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss what to expect during Wednesday’s hearing and whether real border security measures are possible under the current administration. 

Listen to the podcast below: