HYGO News Your attitude, your inaccuracies, obviously you don't know, heated exchange Blackburn & Mayorkas
Blackburn vs. Mayorkas: “Your Attitude Was Duly Noted” — Senator Puts $1 Billion in Migrant Payments into Border Security Math
On November 16, 2021, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas clashed in one of the most personally heated exchanges of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s border security hearing. Blackburn used the proposed $1 billion in migrant settlement payments as a unit of measurement, calculating that the same money could build 50 miles of border wall, hire over 15,000 Border Patrol agents, or employ 7,213 immigration judges. When Mayorkas challenged her statistics, she shot back: “The stats we’re using are government stats. They are accurate. But your attitude during that response was duly noted.” Mayorkas responded: “I hope I was unflinchingly respectful.” The exchange also covered Biden’s beach house fence, the Remain in Mexico policy, green cards for illegal immigrants, the removal of border technology, and whether the administration’s 11 million illegal immigrant estimate was credible given estimates from Yale and other universities suggesting a far higher number.
The Billion-Dollar Border Security Math
Blackburn’s central argument was built around a simple premise: if the administration had $1 billion to pay settlement money to illegal immigrants, what could that money accomplish for border security instead?
She conveyed the frustration she was hearing at home: “So many Tennesseans that I talk to are absolutely outraged with the benefits and the handouts that are given to illegal immigrants, especially at a time when so many people are really suffering due to this oppressive inflation that we are seeing take hold of our economy.”
Blackburn then ran the numbers. “How many miles of border wall could you build with a billion dollars?” she asked Mayorkas.
“If I may, Senator, take a moment—” Mayorkas began.
“Obviously, you don’t know the answer to that. The answer is 50 miles of border wall,” Blackburn said, cutting him off.
She continued through her calculations. “How many Border Patrol agents could you hire with a billion dollars?” When Mayorkas said he would have to get back to her, Blackburn supplied the answer: “I can tell you it’s over 15,000 Border Agents.”
“How many immigration judges, another thing the Border Patrol has told us that they need at that southern border?” Again, Blackburn had the figure: “7,213 immigration judges could be hired.”
The exercise transformed an abstract dollar figure into concrete enforcement capabilities, each one addressing a specific need that border security officials had identified. The 50 miles of wall, 15,000 agents, and 7,213 judges were not Blackburn’s inventions — she emphasized they came from Border Patrol’s own assessments of what was needed at the southern border.
”Your Question Is Filled with Inaccuracies”
Mayorkas pushed back against Blackburn’s framing multiple times during the exchange, creating the personal tension that defined the encounter.
When Blackburn presented her statistics, Mayorkas objected: “Senator, your question — forgive me, your question is filled with inaccuracies.”
Blackburn was incredulous: “Oh no, these are things that we are pulling from—”
“Oh no,” Mayorkas interjected.
“Border Patrol,” Blackburn finished.
“Oh yes,” Mayorkas responded, disputing her characterization but offering little specific correction.
“Okay, I’m going to move on,” Blackburn said.
The exchange culminated in Blackburn’s closing statement that became the clip’s most-shared moment: “The stats we’re using are government stats. They are accurate. But your attitude during that response was duly noted.”
Mayorkas offered what appeared to be a conciliatory response: “As you referenced my attitude, and I hope I was unflinchingly respectful in response to your questions. And I apologize if you took it otherwise. I certainly did not mean to be.”
The word “unflinchingly” drew attention — it suggested Mayorkas viewed himself as maintaining composure in the face of questioning he considered unfair, while Blackburn perceived the same demeanor as dismissive condescension toward her constituents’ concerns.
The Biden Beach House Fence
Blackburn, like Senator Cotton earlier in the hearing, raised the contrast between Biden’s personal security investments and his border policy. She asked Mayorkas whether he was aware that taxpayers were funding a half-million-dollar fence around Biden’s Rehoboth Beach house.
“I’m not aware of that,” Mayorkas said.
“And your department is overseeing this construction. You should be aware of that,” Blackburn responded. “President Biden obviously likes walls when they protect him. So can you explain to me why a wall is effective and necessary at the White House and the Biden Beach house but is not necessary at the southern border?”
When the chairman allowed Mayorkas to respond after Blackburn’s time expired, the secretary argued that “there are thousands of miles along the southern border” and that “fundamentally advanced technology is the most effective means” of border security.
Blackburn countered with direct testimony from the field: “I have talked with local law enforcement and Border Patrol on the border. And yes, they all say they have needed the wall. They need technology where the wall cannot go. They need more agents and judges. But they have told me repeatedly that you all are removing technology from the border.”
This was a new allegation — that the administration was not only failing to add border security technology but was actively removing existing surveillance capabilities. Mayorkas said he was “not aware of the removal of technology” and offered to follow up in writing.
Green Cards, Gotaways, and the 11 Million Number
Blackburn pressed Mayorkas on the immigration provisions of the Build Back Better Act: “The Build Back Better plan supports giving green cards to illegal aliens. Do you support giving green cards to illegal immigrants that have entered this country? Yes or no?”
Mayorkas avoided a direct yes or no: “Senator, I believe in immigration reform and legislation that provides a path to citizenship to those who meet certain criteria.”
Blackburn characterized this as supporting illegal immigrants receiving green cards “when we have Americans that are out of work.”
She also challenged the administration’s use of the 11 million figure for the number of illegal immigrants in the United States, noting that “Yale and other universities in their studies have challenged that number.” The Yale study she referenced, published in 2018, estimated the actual population at approximately 22 million — roughly double the commonly cited figure. Blackburn argued that as head of DHS, Mayorkas “should have a more appropriate number for us.”
On the gotaway population — migrants who crossed the border but evaded detection — Blackburn noted that even by the administration’s own admission of 1.7 million encounters, Border Patrol estimated an additional 1.5 million gotaways. “We still have a lot of people that we do not know where they are in this country,” she said.
The Worst Border Crisis “Ever”
Blackburn established a clear timeline. She acknowledged that border crossings had dropped in 2020 “after the implementation of Remain in Mexico and the Title 42 positions.” She then contrasted that with the current situation: “Under this administration, we are at an all-time high. You are setting records.”
When Mayorkas attempted to assign responsibility to the prior administration, Blackburn cut him off: “These are all on your watch.”
She challenged him on whether the administration bore responsibility for the crisis or whether he would blame the Trump administration: “Is it your position that the prior administration bears responsibility for that?”
Blackburn’s answer to her own question was the border wall: “If you want to talk about getting to root causes, build a wall. This is what our Border Patrol has been saying for three decades that they need. It’s not Trump’s wall. It’s the fact that the Border Patrol wanted that.”
Key Takeaways
- Blackburn calculated that the $1 billion in proposed migrant settlement payments could alternatively build 50 miles of border wall, hire over 15,000 Border Patrol agents, or employ 7,213 immigration judges — all items Border Patrol had identified as critical needs — while Mayorkas could not provide any of these figures himself.
- The exchange turned personal when Mayorkas called Blackburn’s questions “filled with inaccuracies” and she responded that “your attitude during that response was duly noted,” using government statistics she said came directly from Border Patrol, while Mayorkas insisted he had been “unflinchingly respectful.”
- Blackburn alleged the administration was actively removing border surveillance technology, challenged the 11 million illegal immigrant estimate citing Yale studies suggesting 22 million, and noted that even DHS’s own 1.7 million encounter figure did not include an estimated 1.5 million gotaways — “a lot of people that we do not know where they are.”