Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday offered its condolences to the family of a grandmother and seven-year-old granddaughter who died in a car crash caused by a human smuggler fleeing arrest about 100 miles from the southern border.
The moment came during a heated hearing when Mayorkas testified before the House Homeland Security Committee.
Texas Republican Representative August Pfluger asked him to apologize to the family of Maria and Emilia Tambunga who died last month.
“They’re right behind you. They came here today because they want answers,’ he said.
“They came here today because of the failure of you and your leadership. They came here because they want closure.’
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sent his condolences on Wednesday to the family of a grandmother and a seven-year-old granddaughter who died in a car accident caused by a people smuggler fleeing arrest near the border
Mayorkas asked permission from the committee chairman before standing up and turning to the family.
Not all of his words were captured by the video feed, but you heard him say, “My heart breaks for your loss.”
Maria and Emilia were killed last month when a Dodge pickup truck driven by Rassian Comer ran a red light in Texas.
He had refused to stop for a speeding ticket and was being chased by a sheriff’s vehicle. Comer had 11 undocumented migrants in his vehicle.
Two of the migrants also died.
‘Mr. Mayorkas, are you going to tell the Tambunga family that the border is clear today?’ Pfluger asked.
He responded by accusing the Texas congressman of politicizing a tragedy.
Maria Tambunga, 71, and Emilia Tambungar, 7, died last month in a crash involving a people smuggler who escaped capture, authorities said
Texas Republican Representative August Pfluger asked Mayorkas to apologize to the family of Maria and Emilia Tambunga who died last month
Mayorkas is under intense pressure to defend the Biden administration’s border policy. And at Wednesday’s hearing, he was questioned hostilely, accused of being a “liar” and complicit in thousands of drug deaths.
The flashpoint came during the moment when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was in the spotlight as she tried to score points during her allotted five minutes.
“I want to know from you how many more people do we have to see die every day in America? How many young people have we yet to see die? How many teenagers left?” asked the conspiracy theorist from Georgia.
How many more parents cry themselves to sleep at night, if they could sleep at all, because their child overdosed on fentanyl?
“How long will you continue this outrage?”
I can assure you we won’t let it go on,’ Mayorkas replied. “We’re fighting this…”
The answer enraged Greene, who interrupted his words.
“I’m reclaiming my time,” she said. ‘You are a liar. “You just let this go on, the numbers prove it.
“You can’t lie about the fact, Secretary Mayorkas, living in denial and sitting there with the attitude that you’re doing everything right… you’re killing Americans with your policies.
And that’s a fact. Your policies kill more than 300 Americans a day.”
Migrants stand at the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo River with the intention of turning themselves in to US Border Patrol agents, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, April 14, 2023
Migrants surrender to US authorities to seek political asylum in the United States, on April 17, 2023 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
She was eventually cut by Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee’s leading Democrat. He said her words violated house rules of decency.
“We can disagree, but we’ve come to the point where the language we use is not the kind of language we historically use as members of this committee,” he said.
When Greene refused to retract her comments, the committee’s chairman, Republican Representative Mark Green, had them deleted.
Democrats expressed frustration with the way Republicans had conducted the hearing.
“We sit here with a shocking lack of decorum to have a cabinet secretary before us who has been the victim of ad hominem insults and accusations that are completely baseless,” said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY).
“I have now counted that six of my Republican colleagues have not asked you a single question. They’ve used their five minutes to speak, to accuse you of lying, to accuse you of false statements.’