Cornyn Calls for Judiciary Hearings on Border Crisis

U.S.  Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and I wrote a letter to our Democrat counterparts, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety Chairman Alex Padilla (D-CA), requesting an open hearing on the crisis at the border and testimony from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

We wrote, “We believe it is vitally important for the Senate Judiciary Committee to exercise its oversight authority and seek testimony from Secretary Mayorkas and relevant officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the situation at the border and the Biden Administration’s response to it. Our recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the southern border only served to reaffirm our view that the situation has gotten exponentially worse in the last three months, becoming a crisis, and that the Judiciary Committee should hold hearings on this topic.”

“As chairmen of the Judiciary Committee and the Border Security and Immigration Subcommittee during the Trump Administration, we held at least 15 hearings related to oversight of DHS, its component agencies, and various aspects of immigration policy.”

“We hope that you will consider granting our request and hold hearings on the border crisis during the next work period.”

As a previous chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee with jurisdiction over border-related issues, I convened multiple hearings related to oversight of DHS’ immigration programs, including those involving unaccompanied minors.

The full text of the letter is here and below.

April 1, 2021

The Honorable Dick Durbin
Chairman
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

The Honorable Alex Padilla
Chairman
Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety

Dear Chairman Durbin and Chairman Padilla:

We write today to request a hearing of the full committee or the immigration subcommittee related to the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

While we may not agree on the causes of or the solutions to this crisis, we believe it is vitally important for the Senate Judiciary Committee to exercise its oversight authority and seek testimony from Secretary Mayorkas and relevant officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the situation at the border and the Biden Administration’s response to it. Our recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the southern border only served to reaffirm our view that the situation has gotten exponentially worse in the last three months, becoming a crisis, and that the Judiciary Committee should hold hearings on this topic.

As chairmen of the Judiciary Committee and the Border Security and Immigration Subcommittee during the Trump Administration, we held at least 15 hearings related to oversight of DHS, its component agencies, and various aspects of immigration policy. That included several hearings on topics of intense interest to Democratic committee members, including oversight of immigration enforcement and family reunification efforts (July 31, 2018) and oversight of the Trump Administration’s decision to end the DACA program (October 3, 2017). These were in addition to hearings related to oversight of DHS, oversight of CBP, immigration courts, UAC, the EB-5 program, student visas, and border security.

We hope that you will consider granting our request and hold hearings on the border crisis during the next work period. We look forward to working with both of you on bipartisan solutions to secure our border, address this current crisis and plan for future surges, and better protect the health and safety of local communities, law enforcement officers, and migrants.