Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a hearing on Tuesday over the Biden administration’s ongoing crisis on the U.S. southern border.
Cruz went to work on Mayorkas after getting him to admit that the U.S. saw its lowest level of encounters on the southern border in 2020.
“Let’s look at CBP encounters … it drops to the lowest level. Then boom, what happens? You show up!” Cruz said. “And that red line is you! That red line is Joe Biden! And you’re claiming nothing happened, oh gosh, this was here before us. No! You made the decision to allow this!”
Cruz also got Mayorkas to admit that he had no idea how many migrants have died trying to get through the southern border in 2022.
“Of course you don’t! I know how many died, 853!” Cruz fired back. “You go back to 1998, you see it’s consistently between 300 to 400… Suddenly 2021. What happens? You get in office!”
Cruz later enraged Mayorkas after demanding that Mayorkas resign from his job over how poorly the Biden administration has handled the crisis.
“Mr. Secretary, I want to say to you right now, your behavior is disgraceful. And the deaths, the children assaulted, the children raped, they are at your feet,” Cruz said. “And if you had integrity, you would resign.”
“The men and women of the Border Patrol, they’ve never had a political leader undermine them,” Cruz continued. “They despise you, Mr. Secretary, because you’re willing to let children be raped to follow political orders. This is a crisis. It’s a disgrace. And you won’t even admit this human tragedy as it is crisis.”
Mayorkas responded by saying he would not “address” Cruz’s remarks because he found them to be “revolting.”
“Your refusal to do your job is revolting!” Cruz fired back.
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