The House Homeland Security Committee will investigate how cartels in Mexico have been able to exploit the federal government's program for immigrants to seek admission into the United States following a Washington Examiner report that exposed the plagued system.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) said the Washington Examiner's "bombshell" Aug. 4 report would be folded into the body's investigation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
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"According to this week's bombshell report, drug cartels have seized on the newest iteration," Green said in a statement issued late Friday. "President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have provided cartel organizations more innovative ways to evade our laws, rake in money from human and drug trafficking, and wreak havoc in our country. Homeland Republicans will be looking into these recent developments, and Secretary Mayorkas’ continued, willful ignorance of cartel strategies, in our ongoing investigation.”
The Mexican government is allowing any immigrant who enters the country from Guatemala to continue traveling to the United States border if they have obtained an appointment on U.S. Customs and Border Protection's phone application.
The move would seem to be in the interest of the United States. Mexican cartels, however, are exploiting the app's security and have found a way to request appointments anywhere in the world — far beyond the app's "northern Mexico" geofence.
An extensive investigation that included a review of unclassified, internal DHS documents and communications revealed that Mexican cartels are selling the use of a virtual private network to hide the location of immigrants when they request an appointment.
Smugglers openly advertise their VPN services in southern Mexico and on social media, according to a DHS intelligence document and advertisements reviewed by the Washington Examiner. Social media advertisements have been especially conducive to recruiting Haitians, Cubans, and Hondurans.
"The Biden administration has continuously shown violent cartels that they may operate as they please at our Southwest border," Green said. "As I warned earlier this year, the cause of this humanitarian crisis is simple: migrants tested the system, called home, and millions came once they received confirmation of Secretary Mayorkas’ catch-and-release practices."
Green said he was particularly concerned because Mayorkas had testified before the committee a week earlier and told lawmakers that the CBP One app "cuts out the smuggling organizations."
"The dichotomy of these two events would be comical if not so terrifying that the person tasked with securing our homeland is so out of touch," said Green.
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House Homeland Security Republicans are halfway through a six-part investigation examining how Mayorkas has executed his duties over the past 31 months in office.
CBP said it was always working to improve the app and that it had not been hacked.