House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Immigration and Border Security Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), and Immigration and The National Interest Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) wrote a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to stop the current border surge that has overwhelmed Border Patrol and ICE.
“The numbers are staggering. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, the Border Patrol apprehended 408,870 illegal aliens at the southern border, 23 percent more than the preceding fiscal year. Of those apprehended, more than 77,000 were members of so-called “family units,” which represents an increase of 95 percent over FY 2015 figures, and nearly 60,000 were unaccompanied alien minors, which reflects a 49 percent increase over the previous fiscal year,” they said in the letter.
The letter also requests that the Obama administration brief Congress on DHS’ response to the surge and specifically asks the Department to notify the Members if any criminal illegal aliens are released referring to the 90,000 that were released in 2015 as part of Pres. Obama’s Priority Enforcement Program.
“Without additional funding, ICE likely will release thousands of those detained into the United States, many of whom are criminals, who will abscond and hide from authorities…. As such, we expect you to be forthcoming with Congress regarding this critical situation and your proposed efforts to address it,” they wrote.
The Congressman also noted that they became aware of a possible directive from the Obama administration to limit communication with Congress before the election after they attempted to meet with DHS’ Office of Legislative Affairs about the border crisis.
“Any such directive, if issued, would be an unacceptable political ploy and a serious infringement of Congress’ oversight authority under the Constitution. We fully expect that such a directive, if issued, would be immediately rescinded. Additionally, we expect that the Department will provide a briefing to our staffs on these critical issues this week,” they said.
You can read the full letter here.
