WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders are asking the Biden administration for records involving GOP members’ recent visit to the southwestern border, suggesting that officials may have tried to conceal the degree to which the influx of undocumented migrants has overwhelmed border control facilities.
In a three-page letter sent to Department of Homeland Security officials Thursday, the leaders write that the congressional delegation decided to visit the border control station in Eagle Pass, Texas, after seeing news reports Dec. 20 showing that almost 10,000 migrants were in custody there — more than double the facility's capacity.
House Speaker Mike Johnson's office notified DHS officials that same day that he wanted to lead a congressional delegation to tour the site. Yet when the 60 GOP House members showed up two weeks later, Border Patrol officials told them there were fewer than 600 people in custody, the letter says.
The overall number of border illegal border crossings along the southwest border dramatically fell at the start of the New Year, including in Eagle Pass. Border Patrol apprehended just over 2,500 migrants on New Year’s Day, compared to more than 10,000 on certain days in late December. According to data obtained by NBC News, the Del Rio sector of the border, which includes Eagle Pass, was only 15% full of migrants in custody in early January.
“DHS responds to congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight. Generally speaking, it has been widely reported that encounters significantly dropped at the end of December and early January from where they were a month ago," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement continued: "Additionally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not operate long-term detention facilities. Migrants who cross without authorization are detained in short term custody, may be placed in expedited removal and removed from the United States, may be transferred to ICE for detention pending removal proceedings or removal, or in some cases may be placed in removal proceedings before an immigration judge and released to await immigration court proceedings. "
In a post on the social media site X on Jan. 2, the day before the lawmakers arrived, Johnson wrote that the Biden administration had sent the migrants to “another location in order to keep them out of the camera shots during @HouseGOP’s visit to Eagle Pass.”
Johnson's post included two pictures side by side: One showing a crowd of migrants sitting on grass; the other depicting the same location appearing to be empty.
“Media reports have suggested DHS took these steps to hide the truth from members of Congress,” according to the letter, which was signed by Johnson, R-La., Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn.
The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arrests for illegal border crossings were down early this month, U.S. officials said, as Mexico increased enforcement.
The letter, first obtained by NBC News, also charged that border control officials tried to stop the 60 visiting lawmakers from taking pictures, interfering with Congress’ oversight responsibilities. On one occasion, when a lawmaker asked why the border control officials were taking pictures but members of Congress were barred from doing so, an official replied: “We are the government,” the letter says.
“Simply put, the effort by DHS to impede and obstruct Congress in our efforts to engage in oversight of the executive branch is unacceptable,” the letter says.
Border officials took pictures of the visiting lawmakers, a GOP leadership aide said. Even as the members were told they couldn’t take any pictures whatsoever, a CBS News crew was permitted to take video of the same facility, the aide said.
“While they [border officials] took photos of members, they blocked photos of the same sites that are seen in the CBS video,” the aide said.
The authors requested documents and correspondence from Homeland Security officials involving the congressional visit, along with “any effort to divert or delay the entry of foreign nationals who were en route to the United States and likely to enter through Eagle Pass, Texas and/or the Del Rio Sector.”
They gave the department until Jan. 19 to provide the information.
The House leaders also requested documents referring to rules related to taking pictures at Border Patrol facilities.
Green’s committee is holding hearings into the possible impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. House Republicans blame him for a surge in illegal border crossings and the fentanyl flowing from Mexico to the United States.
No U.S. Cabinet member has been impeached since the Ulysses S. Grant administration in the 19th century. Democrats and some legal scholars have countered that there is no basis for impeaching Mayorkas.
