Senator James Lankford (R-OK) took to the Senate floor on Thursday to share that after eight months of not hearing from the Department of Homeland Security about their plan to prepare and respond to lifting Title 42 restrictions that it is evident that the agency has no plan in place for the upcoming end at 11:59 pm on December 20, 2022.
Lankford just this month sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling out the major lack of transparency regarding the expected migrant surge following the termination of Title 42. In November 2022, Lankford questioned Secretary Mayorkas on the national security threats that have been caused by the lack of enforcement of US law at the border.
Following the release of another bombshell report on the chaos at the southern border and how completely mismanaged the asylum process is, Lankford sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas asking for more information about the Notice to Report (NTR) and Parole processes that the agency is using to release illegal border crossers at the southern border.
After numerous staff and direct conversations about the matter, Lankford sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas to on his concerns about efforts to re-implement the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers. Lankford has repeatedly asked for information and raised significant questions about whether DHS is following the District Court’s order to resume the program in “good faith.”
Lankford, the lead Republican on the Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management, focused his questions on failed immigration policies and a lack of transparency.
Partial Transcript
The Administration Has No Plan: “For a year and a half I have asked Secretary Mayorkas what happens when Title 42 authority goes away, because it is temporary? What is your plan? And for two years almost I’ve gotten, ‘We’re working on it, we’re very aware that’s temporary, it will go away at some point, we have a plan.’”
Our Southern Border Is In Crisis: “Now listen, we have a wide diversity of opinion in this body about what needs to happen in immigration. I don’t run into a lot of people that like what’s happening on our southern border right now. It’s chaos.”
Biden Has Let The Crisis Get Out Of Control: “During the Obama Administration, they called it a crisis if there were 1,500 people illegally crossing the border a day. We’re now approaching 9,000 people illegally crossing the border a day.”
