Comer Opens Hearing on Biden Administration’s Unilateral Actions Fueling Border Crisis

WASHINGTON – House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) delivered opening remarks at a full committee hearing titled “The Biden Administration’s Regulatory and Policymaking Efforts to Undermine U.S. Immigration Law.”In his opening statement, Chairman Comer slammed the Biden Administration for not paying heed to warnings from Chief Patrol Agents who testified how the border crisis is setting records for illegal border crossings, migrant deaths, narcotics seized, and suspected terrorists arrested trying to illegally cross the border. He pointed out that no amount of money can fix bad immigration and border security policy. Chairman Comer closed by emphasizing illegal activity on the border must be met with adequate and timely consequences and thanked the expert witnesses for appearing for today’s hearing.

Below are Chairman Comer’s remarks as prepared for delivery.

One of this Committee’s first hearings at the start of this Congress was examining the worsening border crisis.

We heard from two Chief Border Patrol agents who testified about a crisis that was setting records for illegal border crossings, migrant deaths, narcotics seized, and suspected terrorists arrested trying to illegally cross the border.

Tragically, the Biden Administration did not pay heed to their testimony. 

And the border crisis has continued to deepen—affecting almost every American.

Just last week, New York City forced children to stay home from school so that the illegal immigrants could be housed in their classrooms.

Alongside the Homeland Security Committee, the Oversight Committee has been investigating the border crisis, interviewing Chief Border Patrol agents from every sector along the southwest border.

We released a staff report yesterday describing their experiences and detailing the hardships of attempting to protect a border without the support of the Biden Administration.

I urge all my colleagues—including Ranking Member Raskin—to read this report.

Today’s hearing is an opportunity to hear from experts with decades of law enforcement experience on how policy decisions made by the Biden Administration have led us to the border crisis we are witnessing today. 

President Biden and his Administration have refused to take any responsibility for a catastrophe they created. 

And now the Biden Administration is doing what it does best—asking taxpayers for more money. 

But more money isn’t going to solve much on the border. 

Because what we are seeing isn’t a money problem. It’s a policy problem. 

It’s a problem of not enforcing U.S. immigration law.

No amount of money can fix bad policy.

Make no mistake, a blank check in the hands of the Biden Administration doesn’t mean more border security and less illegal immigration.

A blank check doesn’t mean more detention and removals of illegal aliens, which is what is needed to stem this crisis. 

A blank check means more Biden Administration policies undermining U.S. immigration law.

A blank check means even faster releases of more illegal aliens into the interior of the country.

A blank check means more agency memos and rulemaking to undermine the rule of immigration law in this country and give administrative amnesty to whole classes of illegal aliens residing in the country.

The Biden Administration refuses to acknowledge that three years of poor policy decisions have led to the situation we find ourselves in today. 

And it’s not getting any better. Preliminary reports indicate that a record setting 302,000 encounters were made last month on the southwest border.

And the majority of those encountered—at least two thirds, maybe even more—are not being detained for removal proceedings.

Under the Biden Administration, most illegal aliens are released within hours or days of their apprehension. 

Those illegal aliens, if they even show up to immigration court at all, will enter a court system now saddled with over three million cases nationwide.

And even if they are issued a final order of removal, it is unlikely the Administration will make them a priority to effectuate the removal.

Since the beginning of this Congress, House Republicans have worked to hold the Biden Administration accountable for policy decisions that have encouraged illegal immigration and overwhelmed law enforcement.

We have also worked to pass legislation to solve this crisis.

In May of last year, House Republicans passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, to restore order within our immigration system.

Our solutions are simple.

Illegal activity on the border must be met with adequate and timely consequences, not a quick release to await years-long removal proceedings where hundreds of thousands of aliens file frivolous or fraudulent applications that create delays for those who truly qualify. 

Our message to President Biden is this: Enforce the law and restore policies that deter illegal immigration.

I thank the witnesses for appearing today and look forward to their testimony.

I now yield to Ranking Member Raskin for his opening remarks.