During a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Thursday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) confronted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary and open-borders fanatic Alejandro Mayorkas about the 1.2 million illegal aliens in America who have received final deportation orders.
“One point two million people are undetained, free, roaming about the country,” Gaetz began. “They’ve gone before a judge. A judge has issued a final order of removal. How many ICE agents do you need to deport them?”
Mayorkas responded, “Congressman, I think what we need is legislation to fix a broken immigration system—”
ICE, however, does not rely on Congress to carry out deportations of those who have gone before a judge and received final orders of removal, Gaetz noted, asking again if Mayorkas planned to remove the 1.2 million.
Mayorkas dodged the question and instead indicated “resources” were impeding his ability to carry out deportations.
Gaetz then asked, “How much money do you need to deport all of them? How much money? How many agents to deport the 1.2 million who a judge has said have no right to be here?”
Mayorkas replied, “Congressman, there are a number of questions that your question raises with respect to whether all of those individuals actually have been given due process—”
Gaetz interrupted the border chief to correct him, saying, “No, no, no, they have. These are the people who have had their due process, ok? And here’s the point. You have no plan to remove them. You don’t know how many ICE agents it would take and you don’t know how much money it would take because you actually don’t want to remove them.”
Read more of the exchange below:
GAETZ: So, do you think that it just might be the case that one reason that we will encounter the highest number of illegal immigrations in our nation’s history this month and next month is because everybody knows that even if they come here, even if they go through the removal procedures, even if a judge issues a final order, you [Mayorkas] still think that there might be more due process? And you have no plan to remove them, and when I ask you what the plan is, you say, “Oh, well, resources.”
GAETZ: I go back to my first question, how many ICE agents to remove the 1.2 million?
MAYORKAS: I’d be pleased to provide you with the resourcing data subsequent to this hearing, if I may—”
GAETZ: I think it’s telling that you’ve got plans for pronouns and you’ve got plans for misinformation, but when it comes to the plan to remove the people that have had due process, you don’t have one at all.
…
MAYORKAS: So if I could return to data because I want to make sure that you have accurate information—
GAETZ: Everyone knows that you have more people coming in than ever and you’re removing fewer people than ever and it’s because you have no plan and because it’s on purpose. See, I don’t buy the theory that you don’t know how to do this. I think you’re actually a highly competent dude. But the reality is your plan is to bring these people in and to send the message to the smugglers and the criminals that they will never have to leave.
Gaetz concluded, “I think we ought to use the best tools in the country to find these folks, round them up like they were at the Capitol on January 6, and deport every last one of them.”