U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), who is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, delivered opening remarks Wednesday during the committee’s hearing to examine how “Biden-Harris’ open borders policies have undermined our safety and security.”
The hearing, entitled “A Country Without Borders: How Biden-Harris’ Open-Borders Policies Have Undermined Our Safety and Security,” heard testimony from four witnesses, including Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin – a mother of five who was brutally raped and murdered by an illegal alien – and Aaron Heitke, who retired as a chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Green began his opening statement by attributing the policies implemented by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as the “spark” which caused the “worst border crisis in American history.”
“Looking back over nearly four years, Americans have witnessed a national security, public safety, and humanitarian disaster at our borders. And every day, we continue to feel its devastating consequences,” Green said.
Green went on to cite statistics provided by the Customs and Border Protection which detail the drastic increase of border encounters under the Biden-Harris administration compared to previous years, further explaining how the policies from the current administration have “encouraged” mass illegal immigration into the U.S.
In addition, Green touched on the Biden-Harris administration’s use of parole programs in an effort to mask the influx of migrants at U.S. ports of entry at one time by directly flying individuals into the country or scheduling entries through the mobile CBP One app.
“This solves the terrible optics problem of overcrowded Border Patrol facilities and overwhelmed agents, but the end result is the same—tens of thousands of inadmissible aliens released into the interior every month. It’s just a shell game—a sleight of hand to skew the numbers,” Green explained.
“It’s like when a parent tells their children to clean their room, only to find the mess simply moved from the floor to the closet. Things might look cleaner, but the underlying problem has not been addressed. So it is with the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies,” Green added.
Green also addressed national security and public safety concerns stemming from the border crisis under the Biden-Harris administration’s watch.
“Tragically, more than 200,000 Americans have died from fentanyl that has been smuggled across the Southwest border by criminal cartels. Border Patrol arrests of illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds have more than doubled on Biden and Harris’ watch, from around 22,000 to more than 53,000. Apprehensions of Chinese nationals crossing the Southwest border illegally exceed 36,000 just this fiscal year—more than FY07-20 combined. These are major national security and public safety concerns,” Green said.
Green said he hopes the evidence and discussion at Wednesday’s hearing “inspires President Biden and Vice President Harris to do what they so far have refused to—end this crisis and secure our borders.”
Watch Green’s full opening statement:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
