Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress on Wednesday that he needs $14 billion in border money now, but any policy changes must wait until lawmakers are ready to pass a broad immigration bill that includes legalization of illegal immigrants.
Both Democrats and Republicans told him that he’s wrong.
Senators made clear that they — and voters — are looking for policy changes that can change the trajectory of the worst border chaos in history, and that writing a check to hire more people won’t be enough.
“It’s not that I necessarily agree with what’s being proposed by Republicans, but I do believe we should look for incremental improvements that can be executed,” Sen. Brian Schatz, Hawaii Democrat, told Mr. Mayorkas. “I think we’re going to have to do some small things, and we can’t say ‘We can’t do anything until we do everything.’”
“This administration needs to do more to secure our border,” said Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat.
Mr. Mayorkas kicked off the hearing by rebuffing an overture from Sen. Susan Collins, an influential moderate Republican from Maine, who asked whether he would accept policy changes along with the money he’s requesting.
He said the administration doesn’t want to tackle just one part of the immigration mess right now, and there’s not enough time to do a comprehensive bill. So he wants to see the money only.
“We need the funding that we are requesting immediately,” he said.
Senators told him that’s not going to happen.
“We need to see some reforms,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican. “Just putting more money into a broken system doesn’t give people the confidence they need.”
The impasse threatens President Biden’s broader $106 billion emergency package that includes money for Ukraine and Israel.
The Israel money could easily pass on its own, but Mr. Biden says he wants all of it lumped together. Republicans said they’ll have a tough time selling reluctant GOP voters on the Ukraine money without a more serious border plan.
“If you want me to be able to vote for this, you’re going to have to help me deal with the following question: Why are you so intent on helping Ukraine, you’re not doing much about our own country when we have a border that’s completely broken?” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican.
Mr. Mayorkas made a strenuous effort to defend Mr. Biden’s border plan, which tries to hire additional border agents and officers, asylum adjudicators and immigration court personnel; adds more inspection technology at border crossings; expands detention and deportation capacity; and allocates more money to localities struggling to welcome all the migrants that have been caught and released into their communities.
Mr. Mayorkas said the money will cut down on the number of illegal immigrants evading detection, and will also increase deportations, sending a signal to other countries that migrants may not win the quick catch-and-release they are hoping for.
“The supplemental will assist us in advancing our mission dramatically,” he said.
But when asked for specific metrics such as how much illegal immigration would be reduced, he struggled.
“We’re going to need some way to track that performance that you are actually solving the problem,” said Sen. John Hoeven, North Dakota Republican.
The two sides couldn’t even agree on why the border has erupted.
Mr. Mayorkas said the problem isn’t Biden policies, but rather “a broken immigration system.” He also complained that his department has been “perennially under-resourced.”
“The system is broken and critically, we are terribly under-funded and under-resourced,” he said.
Republicans repeatedly held up a chart showing that the border was relatively calm in 2020 under President Trump, then exploded into chaos starting with the Biden administration. They said that proved the issue isn’t the laws which both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have operated under, but the way this administration has approached the issue.
“This is policy changes you all instituted, I told ya’ll wouldn’t work. We now need to fix that,” Mr. Graham said. “Your supplemental makes everything worse, not better.”
Democrats said there were some policy changes in Mr. Biden’s request that could help, and among them is allowing an immigration court summons to be served electronically. Mr. Mayorkas said that would be a “tremendous efficiency” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.