Republicans have warned that the next terror attack on US soil will be linked to an illegal border crossing after visiting the migrant crisis hotspot this week.
“We have no idea how many terrorists have entered,” Chairman Mike Johnson said on the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, noting that 312 people on the terrorist watch list had been apprehended at the border since Biden took office.
“I am 100 percent confident that we are going to have another terrorist attack on American soil and you will be able to trace it back to this,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a former FBI agent who spent his entire career in counterintelligence, told DailyMail.com.
Nearly 24,000 Chinese nationals entered the U.S. from the southern border in fiscal year 2023.
'You can't tell me whether those 24,000 people really just want to live the American dream. Even if it's only 10% (US sabotaging for China), that's 240 people waiting to do damage last year. That scares me,” said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas.
Lawmakers insist the high risk of a terrorist attack is another reason they will continue to sue the Department of Homeland Security. Alejandro Mayorkas – even as they try to make a big immigration deal with him.
A group of more than 60 House Republicans, led by Speaker Johnson, watched as desperate migrants threw themselves at border agents this week to be allowed into the country in Eagle Pass, Texas, shouting “help me!”
Johnson called the border an 'unmitigated disaster' during a press conference on Wednesday
They left apparently more frustrated and discouraged about the possibility of a negotiated deal — and with greater determination to remove the Secretary of Homeland Security from office.
“We're waiting for them to make us an offer,” House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green told DailyMail.com about the Senate-led border negotiations when asked whether removing the secretary could distract from the deal .
'My job is to get rid of this man. I mean, he's endangering the American people.”
Next week, the Homeland Security Committee will hold its first impeachment hearing after completing a five-part report on the secretary's “dereliction of duty.”
'I have absolutely no confidence in the negotiations. So let's have impeachment proceedings,” said Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas.
Eagle Pass has become the epicenter of migration in recent months, as migrants pass through the Rio Grande into the small community of about 28,000 residents. Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered shipping containers placed along the river and has the National Guard patrolling the containers.
And in a move for which the Biden administration has now sued him, Abbott installed concertina wire with blades deployed in the river to deter migrants.
Mayorkas will also visit Eagle Pass next week in between trips to Capitol Hill to push through border reforms.
Even Fitzpatrick, a centrist who chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers' Caucus, predicted that the secretary's ouster could be bipartisan.
“I think some Democrats will ultimately support it,” he told DailyMail.com. “I'm not going to prejudge the hearings before they happen, but my God, this limit, I mean, the numbers don't lie.”
When House Republicans return to Capitol Hill, they will face impeachment hearings for Mayorkas and an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
Currently, many migrants seeking asylum are released domestically and must appear for a trial that could take years into the future. Few ever do
Fitzpatrick blamed Democrats for lacking the will to work together to stop the immigration deal, which is expected to include foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“We need our Democratic colleagues to be honest brokers for us,” he told DailyMail.com.
'This is a huge problem. I want to finance Ukraine. I want to finance Israel. I want to finance Taiwan, which is holding everything back. And that shouldn't be the case.'
Since Biden took office, there have been seven million border crossings on paper, and even more that have gone unrecorded and evaded the Border Patrol.
And while immigration reform remains in limbo, Chairman Johnson and top Republicans are insisting that the best way to stem the flow is for President Biden to declare a state of emergency and restore the Trump-era border policies he introduced at the outset. of his government.
“The best way” to combat migration is an emergency declaration, said Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.
“The next best thing is HR 2,” he said, referring to House Republicans' border bill.
And as government funding deadlines approach Jan. 19 for some agencies and Feb. 2 for others, some have floated the idea of attaching a provision to any funding bill that says no taxpayer money can be used to process and release migrants leave inland.
Johnson said law enforcement agencies at the border had told him that reinstating Trump's “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required migrants to remain south of the border while their asylum claims are processed, would reduce illegal immigration by as much as 70 percent reducing.
The migrant children then crawled onto the river bank and stepped through the concertina wire fence
Currently, many migrants seeking asylum are released domestically and must appear for a trial that could take years into the future. Few ever do.
Representative Fallon predicted that Republicans would win the 2024 elections if Democrats could not reach an agreement on border reform. “Biden will get a gift wrapped in a bow for him if he takes this deal.”
“If they don't, they're going to lose this election in November based on this number one. It might be surprising, some of these states, Nevada, I think you'll see Minnesota as a battleground, Virginia might be a battleground, Colorado.”