GOP senators on Tuesday grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the influx of Haitian refugees seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and …
GOP senators on Tuesday grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the influx of Haitian refugees seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and viral images of Customs and Border Patrol officials on horseback chasing migrants away. Mayorkas told lawmakers there would be no tolerance for the abuse of migrants during his appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I was horrified to see the images, and we look forward to learning the facts that are produced from the investigation, and we will take actions that those facts compel,” he said. “We do not tolerate any mistreatment or abuse of a migrant, period,” Mayorkas added, nodding to his agency’s commitment to investigate the officers’ behavior. While the event has placed a renewed focus on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) treatment of migrants, Mayorkas said the administration has no plans to cease flights to a country that in a matter of months has seen an earthquake and an assassination attempt that have led to severe instability. “We are increasing the frequency and number of the repatriation flights each day,” Mayorkas said. “And we’re hoping that what we are doing now serves as a deterrent because it backs up the words that we have spoken since the very outset: that irregular migration is not the way to enter the United States. It will not work.” The Biden administration resumed flights to Haiti last week, expelling more than 500 people back to the country. The situation reached a tipping point in Del Rio after more than 10,000 camped out under a bridge spanning the U.S. and Mexico border with plans to seek asylum. Republicans seized on what they argue is a worsening situation that the Biden administration has done little to resolve in eight months in office. “Every time you come before this committee, you always say, ‘It’s going to get better. Our plan is going to work at some future point.’ And you also usually say ‘It’s really not as bad as it looks.’ And then every time you leave, it gets worse and worse,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.
