WASHINGTON, D.C. –– This week, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability, announced a hearing for Tuesday, March 11, at 2:00 PM ET, to examine areas of waste, fraud, and abuse within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that was created or exacerbated by the Biden administration, as well as offer actionable solutions that can be implemented by Congress and the Trump administration.  

Read more in the Daily Wire via Leif Le Mahieu.

“Under the Biden administration, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars was rampant throughout the executive branch, including within DHS. I am honored to chair a subcommittee that is dedicated to conducting oversight so DHS can accomplish its core homeland security mission effectively, transparently, and for the good of every American,” Chairman Brecheen said. “I look forward to working with our witnesses to identify where DHS has fallen most behind in this effort, including FEMA’s struggle with providing disaster relief, DHS’ bloated contracts with non-governmental organizations that helped facilitate record illegal immigration into the country, and the department’s involvement in censoring Americans, which undermined civil liberties. The Trump administration has created a golden age for government accountability in the interest of the American people––and Congress must play our part.”
 
DETAILS:
 
What: A Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability hearing titled “Eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at the Department of Homeland Security: Addressing the Biden-Harris Administration’s Failures.”

When: Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET 
 
Where: 310 Cannon House Office Building 
 
WITNESSES:
 
Panel I

Chris P. Currie
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Kristen Bernard
Deputy of Inspector General, Office of Audits, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Erika Lang
Assistant Inspector General, Office of Inspections and Evaluations, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
 
Panel II

Curtis Schube
Executive Director, Council to Modernize Governance

Mike Howell
Executive Director, Oversight Project, The Heritage Foundation

The Honorable John Roth 
Former Department of Homeland Security Inspector General

Andrew Block
Senior Counsel, America First Legal Foundation
 
Witness testimony will be added here. The hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube and will be open to the public and press. Press must be congressionally credentialed and should RSVP by Tuesday, March 11, at 10:00 AM ET.
 
BACKGROUND:
 
During the 118th Congress, the Biden administration’s DHS repeatedly denied the Committee’s efforts to access important oversight information, resulting in Chairman Green issuing five subpoenas to the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to compel transparency. 

• These subpoenas were related to the topics of the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan Parole Program, screening and vetting of Afghan nationals, migrants on the Terrorist Screening Data Set encountered at the Southwest border, the attempted assassination of President Trump, and U.S. Border Patrol camera towers at the Southwest border. 
• Additionally, the GAO and the DHS OIG issued numerous, important recommendations to address waste, fraud, and abuse that the department failed to implement.

In November 2024, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) requested transcribed interviews with former and current FEMA employees regarding reports of political discrimination influencing FEMA’s response to victims of Hurricane Milton.

• On October 11, 2024, Chairman Green sent a letter to then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers about the Biden administration’s use of FEMA funds for programs to assist illegal aliens after claiming the agency would not have the funds to make it through hurricane season.

In October 2024, Chairman Green sent a letter to DHS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), demanding answers from the Biden administration on the failures that allowed Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi to roam free for years. Released into the United States in September 2021 following the disastrous Biden administration Afghanistan withdrawal, Tawhedi was arrested last year for plotting an Election Day terrorist attack in Oklahoma.

• In May 2024, the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report indicating that DHS has a fragmented process for vetting and identifying derogatory information on Afghan parolees arriving through Operation Allies Welcome, and no plan in place to remove the roughly 77,000 Afghans paroled into the country as part of Operation Allies Welcome. 
• This report followed a September 2022 DHS OIG report that found that DHS “encountered obstacles to screen, vet, and inspect all Afghan evacuees” arriving in the United States following the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In December 2023, the Committee released its fifth and final interim report as part of the Committee’s five-phase, nearly year-long investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of the crisis at the Southwest border. 

• Phase Five detailed the consistent misuse and abuse of taxpayer resources enabled by then-Secretary Mayorkas, specifically through his failure to detain illegal aliens and use Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention resources in accordance with their intended purpose, and the Biden administration’s decision to halt construction of the border wall system that had already been bought and paid for by taxpayers.

The Committee’s Phase One report found that since the early days of the Biden border crisis in 2021, DHS released illegal aliens to a vast network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), particularly those located at the border, who then provide logistical support.

• These groups received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to provide all manner of services to illegal aliens once they are released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or ICE custody, including food, lodging, and transportation to the destination of their choice. 
• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has left no doubt about this collaboration at the Southwest border, per a report issued April 19, 2023. In the study, the GAO notes, “When releasing these noncitizens into the U.S., DHS components such as CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may coordinate with nonprofit organizations that provide services such as food, shelter, and transportation.” 

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