Following a recent trip to America’s southwest border to gain firsthand accounts of the deepening humanitarian and security crisis there, U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY), ranking member of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, led Republican committee members in seeking information from the Biden administration on national security concerns regarding migrant travel.
“While there are many troubling elements regarding the crisis along the southwest border, we are particularly concerned about the security gaps posed by the administration’s policies for processing and vetting migrants for travel into the United States,” wrote Rep. Katko and his colleagues in an April 20 letter sent to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The lawmakers noted that during their trip, frontline law enforcement, including the women and men of DHS, repeatedly expressed their frustrations with new Biden administration policies that they say “place a stranglehold on their ability to do their jobs, put their safety at risk, and jeopardize the security of the homeland.”
Such accounts ranged from law enforcement officers working between the ports of entry, at the ports, conducting homeland security investigations, and stationed at airports, according to their letter, which was also signed by 15 other GOP committee members, including U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Peter Meijer (R-MI).
Among their myriad concerns, for example, DHS personnel reported to the committee members that there are no requirements for migrants being placed on flights and busses across the country to show a negative COVID-19 test, according to their letter.
“Also, for migrants who show up at the border with no paperwork or documentation, CBP [Customs and Border Protection] is forced to take them at their word regarding biographic information including their name and even age,” Rep. Katko and the lawmakers wrote. “That does not instill confidence regarding the identities of people who are expeditiously being put on busses and planes to head to cities across the country pending their immigration proceedings.”
And the members wrote that “the nexus with unaccompanied minors and their transfer from DHS to HHS is also immediately relevant.”
Rep. Katko and his colleagues requested that the secretaries answer numerous questions for committee members, including how DHS ensures that the safety and security of domestic transportation systems are not compromised, as well as if DHS has issued guidance to partner Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on how to safely facilitate migrant travel and how DHS resources may be used to pay for migrant travel.