A group of lawmakers recently forwarded correspondence to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, requesting a hearing regarding the nation’s southern border.
U.S. Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Rob Portman (R-OH), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) signed on the letter.
“We write regarding the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s oversight role over the United States’ southern border,” the legislators wrote. “In just one year under the Biden administration, encounters of illegal aliens at the southern border soared to over two million. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports that they encountered 178,840 aliens in December alone.”
The lawmakers maintain the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has not conducted a public addressing national security, humanitarian and other issues under the committee’s jurisdiction.
“Protecting Americans from all threats and illicit substances is a shared responsibility,” the legislators concluded. Congress must perform the necessary oversight of this administration’s open border policies, which are fueling deadly criminal activity and are tragically leading to the maltreatment of migrants entering the United States by barbaric cartels that subject them to torture, sex trafficking, forced labor, and other human rights atrocities.”
The lawmakers have encouraged the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to schedule a hearing regarding the southern border at the earliest possible opportunity.