Graham, Hawley call on Judiciary Committee to hold hearing on US-Mexico border

GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) want the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on the influx of migrants at the southern border, a central issue among Republicans critical of President Biden’s reversal of several Trump-era policies. 

Graham and Hawley, two Republican members of the Judiciary panel, wrote in a letter to Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Friday that the surge in migrants amounts to “a severe humanitarian and public health crisis,” adding that members of Congress should not “let this surge continue due to our complacency.” 

The senators specifically called for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and top officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to testify before the committee to help ensure that it is “doing its part to protect the vulnerable, and restore order to the border.” 

The specifically cited “historic numbers of migrants not seen in over 15 years,” measured by CBP in recent months.

According to updated data released Friday, CBP encountered 188,829 people attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in June, a 4.5 percent increase from the number recorded in May. Border patrol apprehensions have topped 1 million for the fiscal year so far, more than double all of fiscal 2020.

Graham and Hawley wrote Friday that the “increased numbers are testing the limits of CBP’s processing capacity.” 

“Smugglers and cartels are making billions of dollars off our broken border by preying on vulnerable migrants,” they argued. “Yet, the Biden administration has not proposed any meaningful solution to shut off the flow and regain control.” 

“In fact, President Biden has made conditions at the border much worse,” they wrote to Durbin, specifically citing Biden’s reversal of former President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy and reinstating “catch and release” practices. 

“The most egregious part about the border crisis is that it could be solved if only we take appropriate action,” Graham and Hawley wrote. “The Committee shouldn’t stand by and watch this catastrophe unfold yet again.”  

“We must hear from the Department of Homeland Security about the problem so we can find a workable solution,” they continued. “If we don’t, we’re afraid we will have no one to blame but ourselves.”

The Hill has reached out to Durbin’s office for comment. 

The letter comes days after Senate Republicans urged the Biden administration to keep in place the Trump-era Title 42 policy that allows border agents to swiftly expel those who cross into the U.S. from Mexico. 

The demand followed reports that Biden planned to lift the directive later this month, which Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) argued would be a disaster for an administration that she said was unprepared to handle the influx of people at the border without Title 42 in place.