HYGO News Paying migrant not pull factor, not know how many migrants, simple question, Cruz, Mayorkas clash
Cruz Grills Mayorkas: Migrant Payments “Not a Pull Factor,” Can’t Answer How Many Released with COVID or Criminal Records
On November 16, 2021, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) subjected Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to one of the most aggressive questioning sessions of the Biden administration’s first year. Cruz pressed Mayorkas on whether paying illegal immigrants $450,000 would create a pull factor (Mayorkas said no), whether Biden or Harris had visited the Donna detention facility (neither had), how many COVID-positive illegal immigrants had been released into the United States (Mayorkas didn’t know), how many with criminal convictions had been released (he didn’t know that either), and whether the “great majority” of released migrants actually showed up for court hearings (Cruz cited data showing only 13 percent did). Mayorkas admitted the country was experiencing a “historic high” in illegal border crossings but repeatedly declined to provide basic statistics.
The $450,000 Question: “Not a Pull Factor”
Cruz opened with a direct challenge on the migrant payment controversy. He framed the question in terms any voter could understand: “Do you think it is a good idea to pay illegal immigrants four and a half times what we pay the family of a service member who’s killed in combat? And if we pay millions of dollars to illegal immigrants, in your professional judgment, will we get more illegal immigration or less illegal immigration?”
Mayorkas deflected to the legal process: “I cannot speak to the advisability of settling the Federal Tort Claims Act in which I am not involved.”
Cruz pressed again: “But you have no view on whether paying millions of dollars creates more illegal immigration?”
The committee chairman interjected, noting Cruz had exceeded his time. Cruz turned the interruption into his closing argument: “So the Secretary of DHS has no idea whether paying illegal immigrants millions of dollars produces more illegal immigration?”
When Mayorkas finally offered a substantive answer, it became the exchange’s headline: “I do not think that it would be a pull factor.”
The claim that paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to people who crossed the border illegally would have no effect on future illegal immigration was treated with open skepticism by Republicans on the committee.
”Has Joe Biden Seen the Biden Cages?”
Cruz then shifted to the conditions at the Donna, Texas, tent facility, which had been at the center of the migrant housing crisis earlier in 2021. He held up a photograph he said he had taken during a visit to the facility showing children sleeping on floors, crowded together with a COVID positivity rate exceeding 10 percent.
“In the past year, has Joe Biden been down to see firsthand the Biden cages? Has Joe Biden been down to see this facility, yes or no?” Cruz demanded.
“The President has not been down to the border,” Mayorkas acknowledged.
“Has Kamala Harris been down to see the Biden cages, this facility? Yes or no?” Cruz continued. “I know she went to El Paso. Has she seen the Biden cages?”
Mayorkas objected to the terminology: “They are not cages.”
“And what are these walls?” Cruz shot back, gesturing at his photograph. Mayorkas eventually confirmed that Harris had not visited the Donna facility.
Cruz expanded the challenge: “Has any Democratic senator on this committee been down to see the Biden cages?” Mayorkas said he could not speak to the travel of committee members.
Cruz drove the point home: “Has any Democratic member of this committee given a damn enough to see the children being locked up by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris because of your failed immigration policies?”
The Parade of Unanswered Questions
What followed was a sustained series of questions to which Mayorkas could not provide answers — each one a basic statistic that critics argued the head of DHS should have at his fingertips during a hearing on border security.
Gotaways: “You don’t know how many gotaways there have been?” Cruz asked. Mayorkas: “I will have to circle back, Senator, with that information.”
Deaths: “How many illegal aliens have died crossing illegally into the United States under Joe Biden’s administration?” Mayorkas: “I don’t have that data.”
Children detained: “How many children have been in the Biden cages in calendar year 2021?” Mayorkas eventually said approximately 125,000 unaccompanied children had been transferred to HHS through October 31.
COVID-positive releases: “How many illegal immigrants have you released into the United States who were COVID positive?” Mayorkas: “I will have to get that number.”
Criminal conviction releases: “How many illegal aliens have you released who had criminal convictions?” Mayorkas: “Senator, I do not have that number.”
Cruz’s frustration with the repeated non-answers was visible: “It’s a simple question.”
The Catch-and-Release Contradiction
Cruz challenged specific testimony Mayorkas had given to Chairman Durbin about the compliance rate for migrants released under catch-and-release. Mayorkas had told Durbin that “the great majority” of released migrants showed up for their court dates.
Cruz called this testimony potentially false. “I’m looking at a July 27, 2021, story in Axios that describes just 13% of migrants had shown up after catch and release,” he said. “You know you’re under oath and subject to the penalty of perjury. Do you stand by your testimony that the great majority of illegal aliens released under catch and release show up voluntarily at court proceedings?”
Mayorkas cited a 65 percent compliance rate for “alternatives to detention” reporting check-ins, but Cruz argued this was a different metric entirely from actual court appearance rates. “You’re giving stats that aren’t answering the question. How many show up at the court hearing?”
Mayorkas ultimately said he would “verify the accuracy of the data after my testimony today and report back.” Cruz replied: “So if your testimony that the great majority show up for hearings is wrong and false testimony, you will come correct it in writing."
"You Broke It”
Cruz established a stark before-and-after comparison. Mayorkas acknowledged that under President Trump the country had seen among the lowest rates of illegal immigration in decades, and that under Biden the country was experiencing “a historic high.”
“So you’re right, it’s broken, but you broke it,” Cruz concluded.
He also challenged Mayorkas on compliance with a federal court order to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy: “Senior Customs and Border Patrol leadership have told me that your agency is slow-walking and refusing to comply with the order.” Cruz asked what Mayorkas would say to a judge considering holding him in contempt. Mayorkas responded: “It is because we are implementing the court’s order in good faith.”
Key Takeaways
- Mayorkas told Cruz that paying illegal immigrants $450,000 would “not be a pull factor” for future illegal immigration, while admitting he could not provide the number of COVID-positive migrants released, criminal migrants released, or deaths during illegal border crossings under the Biden administration.
- Cruz revealed that neither Biden nor Harris had visited the Donna, Texas, detention facility and asked whether any Democratic senator on the committee had visited, getting no affirmative answer, while displaying photographs of children sleeping on floors at 10%+ COVID positivity rates.
- Cruz challenged Mayorkas’s testimony that the “great majority” of released migrants show up for court, citing an Axios report showing a 13% appearance rate, and established that illegal crossings hit “a historic high” under Biden after being at their lowest in decades under Trump.