WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Today, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, announced a hearing for next Tuesday, March 25, to examine how the Biden administration created the worst border crisis in U.S. history by refusing to enforce our nation’s laws, rescinding commonsense border security policies from the first Trump administration, and implementing reckless, unlawful policies in their place:

“After just two months in office, the Trump administration has restored law and order at our borders. But this victory, and the historic crisis that preceded it, did not happen overnight. There is no question that Joe Biden and his reckless administration created the worst border crisis in American history. From unlawful mass-parole schemes and catch-and-release to disempowering DHS law enforcement––every community in America has faced the consequences of the Biden administration’s failures,”Chairman Guest said. 

“These failures took the lives of innocent Americans and led to the unimaginable abuse of vulnerable men, women, and children along their journey to our doorstep. Instead of correcting course, Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas argued for four years that this was an unavoidable influx of global migration and that their hands were tied by a lack of Congressional action and resources. However, it is abundantly clear the Biden border crisis was by design––not by accident. As the Trump administration works tirelessly to clean up the mess of the last four years, we must remain clear-eyed about how we got here so Congress can ensure it never happens again.”

Read more in The Daily Signal via Virginia Allen. 

DETAILS:  
 
What: A Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement hearing entitled, “Part 1: Consequences of Failure: How Biden’s Policies Fueled the Border Crisis.”

When: Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET 

Where: 310 Cannon House Office Building 
 
WITNESSES:
 
Lora Ries
Director, Border Security and Immigration Center, The Heritage Foundation 
 
Ammon Blair
Senior Fellow, Secure and Sovereign Texas Initiative, Texas Public Policy Foundation
 
Jon Anfinsen
Executive Vice President, National Border Patrol Council
 
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.
 
BACKGROUND:
 
Under the Trump administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded the lowest nationwide apprehension average in the agency’s history last month. However, for four years, CBP faced overwhelming and unprecedented illegal immigration because of the Biden administration’s open-borders policies.
 
On February 13, 2024, the House of Representatives voted to impeach then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for high crimes and misdemeanors—the first impeachment of a sitting Cabinet official in American history––after a nearly year-long investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at America’s borders. 

In the 118^th Congress, Committee Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) subpoenaed Biden administration officials four times for answers regarding the border crisis, including: the unlawful abuse of parole through the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) Parole Program, the national security threats of aliens on the Terrorist Screening Data Set encountered at the Southwest border, the screening and vetting of sponsors for unaccompanied alien children (UACs), and the status of inoperable U.S. Border Patrol camera towers at the Southwest border. 

Throughout the five-phase investigation into the border crisis, the Committee published detailed reports of its findings, totaling nearly 400 pages:

• Phase 1 Interim Report: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Dereliction of Duty
• Phase 2 Interim Report: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Has Emboldened Cartels, Criminals, and America’s Enemies
• Phase 3 Interim Report: The Devastating Human Costs of the DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Open-Borders Policies
• Phase 4 Interim Report: The Historic Dollar Costs of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Open-Borders Policies
• Phase 5 Interim Report: The Massive Waste and Abuse Enabled by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
• Transcribed Interview Appendix: First-Hand Accounts of the Crisis From Border Patrol Sector Chiefs

 
As part of the investigative process, the Committee conducted 10 full and subcommittee hearings, gathering testimony from more than two dozen witnesses. The Committee, along with the House Oversight Committee, also conducted transcribed interviews of chief and deputy chief patrol agents responsible for the Border Patrol’s nine Southwest border sectors as part of this investigation. These senior agents gave compelling testimony about the many consequences of the Biden administration’s open-borders policies:

• Never before had agents seen such historic numbers of illegal crossings 
• The lack of consequences enforced by DHS for illegal entry
• Mass releases functioned as a pull factor for millions of illegal aliens
• Illegal aliens began turning themselves in to Border Patrol, knowing they would be released into the interior
• The expansive degree of cartel control at the Southwest border 
• Agents were being taken out of the field in order to help process and release illegal aliens
• Illegal aliens were spreading the word of our open border back home, encouraging more crossings
• The operational impacts of open borders, including closed checkpoints and national security risks
• Border Patrol sector chiefs contradicted Secretary Mayorkas and said they did not have operational control in their sectors  

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