WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, delivered an opening statement at Tuesday’s hearing with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, to examine the resources and authorities DHS needs to protect and secure the Homeland.
In his opening statement, Ranking Member Portman pressed Secretary Mayorkas on the steps DHS is taking to address the ongoing border crisis.
Senator Portman highlighted that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are overwhelmed by the surge of migrants at our southern border as well as the record amounts of illicit deadly drugs, like fentanyl, coming across the border and into the United States.
Earlier this month, Portman issued a statement on CBP operational statistics for June 2021 that showed that the United States is experiencing the worst migrant crisis in more than two decades.
There were more than 188,000 total encounters at the border in June. Earlier this year, Portman traveled to the southern border in El Paso, Texas, with Secretary Mayorkas, where he witnessed firsthand the ongoing migrant and unaccompanied children crisis, including situations where children were held in close quarters and unable to adhere to CDC distancing guidelines.
Portman has made it clear that the Biden administration’s border crisis is a direct result of its dismantling of the previous administration’s policies with no consideration of the ramifications of removing those policies and how it would incentivize migration.
Portman has repeatedly urged the administration to change course and put in place smart policies that address the need for legal and orderly processes for migration and reduce the pull factors that encourage these migrant and young children to make the treacherous journey north, while also securing our borders and protecting the American people.
