DHS brags 95% drop encounters; Lankford: total numbers continue to go up, called out 10-year asylum

On 4/18/2023, Lankford Challenges Mayorkas for Hiding the Truth on the Border from the American People.

During Tuesday’s U.S. Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management, U.S. Senator James Lankford questioned Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the Biden Administration’s budget request for the Department of Homeland Security.

Mayorkas: “Has led to a more than 95 percent drop in the number of encounters of individuals from those four countries at our Southern border. So, that is a model of building lawful pathways as well as delivering consequences.”

Lankford: “But as you and I both know, the numbers continue to climb. Total numbers from those countries, the numbers have dropped dramatically, but the total numbers continue to go up. For this fiscal year, for just the six months of this fiscal year, it’s about 160,000 higher than last year. Last year was a million more higher than the year before. So, the numbers still continue to climb total numbers. What I’m trying to figure out is for this circumvention of lawful pathways regulation that you’re planning to implement across the board, do you expect this 95 reduction that you’ve seen in those identified countries after it’s implemented? If so, when is it going to be implemented?”

Mayorkas: ”… That’s the model that has worked in the past, that we intend to build upon, and we are indeed building upon.”

Lankford called out Mayorkas for 10-year asylum wait times.

Lankford: “If they request to go to New York, currently, right now, their next hearing time in New York is in March of 2033. So, it is 10 years before they get that hearing, and that’s not the final adjudication of it, as you know well. That’s just the ICE portion of it, and then they get in line to go after that. So, we could be 15 to 18 years before this asylum system is actually, before their asylum claim is actually adjudicated. Part of my struggle on this is when I visited with USCIS folks on this. If they’re not in the non-detained docket, which I have a whole legal question on that, if they’re in the non-detained docket, they’re not getting to them at all because their priorities on the detained docket rightfully so, because that’s where the law requires them to be able to do. But the non-detained docket, they’re not getting to. Don’t know when they’re going to get to. ICE has hearing set 10 years into the future to get to the first step of this process for them. This is clearly not working in the process. And on top of all of that, I was shocked to see in your budget request a reduction in requests for new detention space or maintaining detention space. So, while we have got this incredible backlog in the non-detained docket, you’re actually requesting fewer spaces when we have an acceleration of the number of people here. What am I missing?”

Mayorkas: “Um, of four responses if I made number one, we are not seeking a reduction in detention space. What we have done is place the funding for additional detention space in a contingency fund …”

Lankford: “The detention numbers should be at epic levels, a historic number. So, I’m a little confused why we may need to flex onto other things when even your testimony earlier said we anticipate, after Title 42 ends, we will see a surge again of individuals. So, there’s an anticipation of a surge of more individuals coming across the border, yet you’ve moved the detention dollars to a contingency fund to say we may or may not need those.”

Mayorkas: “Well, that’s speaking of fiscal year 2024, not fiscal year 2023. We are hopeful that the measures that we are taking will diminish the number of encounters at our Southern border. The proposed rulemaking to which you referred originally building upon the success of the program we announced and implemented on January 5th.”

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DHS brags 95% drop encounters; Lankford: total numbers continue to go up, called out 10-year asylum wait