WASHINGTON—On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, demanded answers from Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the administration’s complete mishandling of the crisis on the southern border.

Sen. Johnson also appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” to discuss the Biden administration’s open border policies.

The interview can be found here, excerpts are below.

On Failing to Secure the Border:

“The hearing was surreal. It’s like he lives in an alternate universe, an alternate reality. I ran him through a little history lesson using my chart of exactly what has led to this massive flow of illegal immigration. He simply would not acknowledge the fact that President Trump had pretty well stopped the flow of unaccompanied children, of family units exploiting our very generous, credible fear standard under asylum. He pretty well had that buttoned down. We were about ready to complete the fence. We could've then moved to a legal immigration system. He [Mayorkas] and his administration completely dismantled all the successful programs that stopped it. On the chart, it’s just obvious that we had this problem fixed. He completely denies that anything they did has anything to do with this massive surge of illegal immigration. It was just surreal.” (Sen. Johnson, ‘Hannity,’ 5/4/22)

The full exchange at the hearing can be found here and here, excerpts are below.

On Biden’s Border Crisis:

Sen. Johnson: “Mr. Secretary, I can’t tell you how many times as chairman of this committee, I talked about the problem solving process. And the first step in this process is admitting you have a problem. I've heard you say that we have a secure border, that you're managing it. Do you not admit that this is a problem on the southern border?”

Sec. Mayorkas: “Senator Johnson that is certainly a challenge. We recognize the challenge.”

Sen. Johnson: “Can you say the word problem?”

Sec. Mayorkas: “It is, it is precisely, Senator Johnson.”

On the Biden Admin Dismantling Successful Immigration Policies:

Sen. Johnson: “Mr. Secretary, you are Secretary of Homeland Security for the United States of America. There are, I've seen the surveys, there are 10s of millions of people around the world that would want to come to this country and I understand that, I'm sympathetic with that. But we need to secure our border and we pretty well had it done. It was your administration that stopped building the fence. You stopped completing it, you dismantled these programs. Again, you can sit there and deny that the actions you took, your policies, have sent the signal to the world—again, end Title 42—it is the final signal that our border is completely open. You even stop calling it apprehension. Now, it’s just encounter. You're managing the process by making that processing and dispersing so much more efficient.”

Sec. Mayorkas: “I would like to finish my answer.”

Sen. Johnson: “But you're not answering the question. You're just dodging it.”

Sec. Mayorkas: “No, I've already answered your question, Senator, if I may, that we do not believe the policies of this administration have caused the migration…”

Sen. Johnson: “You’re living in an alternate reality. Is the goal of this administration to actually reduce the flow of illegal immigrants or is the goal just making it more efficient to let them in and disperse them? What's the goal of your policy?”

On the Biden Admin Facilitating Cartels:

Sen. Johnson: “Why not go back to Return to Mexico because that worked without congressional action because President Trump did it. You just go back to Return to Mexico, complete the fence, reenter those agreements with Central American countries, and do what President Trump did to fix it. Why don't you do that? Well, you can do that with executive action.”

Sec. Mayorkas: “We do not agree with many of the inhumane and cruel policies of the prior administration.”

Sen. Johnson: “You think the human trafficking, the sex trafficking, the over 100,000 drug overdoses because we're a completely open border? You think selling of children to use that loophole in our asylum laws? You think that's humane? You think what you are facilitating, the business model of some of the most evil people on the planet putting billions of dollars in their pocket? You think that's humane?”

Sec. Mayorkas: “Senator Johnson, of course, I'll treat that as a rhetorical question, because you know that the question compels the answer that I would give. Of course, we don't consider that human suffering, to be humane.”

Sen. Johnson: “You’re allowing it.”

###