Chairman Green Slams Mayorkas’ Border Crisis Shell Game

“Secretary Mayorkas never had a plan to secure our border or end this crisis; he just had a scheme to hide it in plain sight.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) issued the following statement regarding Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ use of the CBP One app to shift illegal immigration to ports of entry (POE) to mislead the American people:

“Since January 2023, Secretary Mayorkas has been engaging in a shell game at the expense of the American people by painting otherwise unlawful border crossings as legal entries. The Biden administration’s abuse of the CBP One app at ports of entry is just a new iteration of catch-and-release—and one that may only further empower cartels, who now have a new human smuggling tool at their disposal. Just one month after the termination of Title 42, it’s clear that Secretary Mayorkas never had a plan to secure our border or end this crisis; he just had a scheme to hide it in plain sight.”

Download a one-pager on Secretary Mayorkas’ Shell Game here.

Background:

President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have spent the past several weeks celebrating the supposedly “decreasing” number of illegal aliens crossing the border between ports of entry. However, the CBP One app is allowing the Biden administration to hide the truth and mask the release of hundreds of thousands of aliens into the United States.

The original intent of the CBP One app was to allow brokers, carriers, and forwarders to request an inspection appointment time for perishable cargo entering the U.S., and for legitimate trade and travel. However, the Biden administration is now using the CBP One app to incentivize illegal aliens to schedule an appointment to claim asylum directly at a POE. This is a deceptive attempt to make the chaos at the border appear more orderly. Through this process, Secretary Mayorkas is able to hide the true number of illegal entries and make many otherwise illegal and inadmissible alien entries appear lawful. Having the Office of Field Operations (OFO) instead of Border Patrol report these numbers is a clear attempt to hide the truth. Regardless of the legitimacy of their claim, many migrants will be released into the interior to await adjudication—all under the guise of lawful entry.

House Republicans’ Secure the Border Act, which passed the House of Representatives in May, returns the CBP One app to its original intent and bars DHS from using it for non-commercial purposes.

Secretary Mayorkas has already ignored one congressional request for data on the program, blowing by an April 4 deadline to provide information to members of Congress.