'I'm not smiling': Mayorkas ducks answers as GOP fumes -
With the shadow of a looming impeachment proceeding hanging over him, Mr. Mayorkas appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to try to rehabilitate his job performance and explain past remarks that Republicans said constituted perjury to Congress.
That report cited multiple “lies” to Congress and still more laws and court orders flouted by the secretary as evidence of malfeasance. A key piece of the GOP’s likely impeachment case against Mr. Mayorkas is testimony he delivered last year claiming his department had “operational control” over the border under the definition written into the Secure Fence Act of 2006.Under prodding Wednesday, Mr. Mayorkas said he wasn’t given a chance to fully explain himself in the earlier answer and said his point was that under the definition written into law, no administration has achieved operational control.
Mr. Mayorkas defended his policy of using “parole” powers to allow unauthorized migrants to schedule appointments to be welcomed in despite having no legal visa. Verbal fencing between Mr. Mayorkas and congressional committees has become so commonplace that both sides seemed to approach Wednesday’s installment with little expectation of a constructive conversation.Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, was miffed when Mr. Mayorkas couldn’t say how many of the caught-and-released migrants have been deported, as the secretary has promised will happen to those that don’t win their cases.
Later in the hearing, Mr. Mayorkas did say that at least a thousand of the 2.1 million catch-and-release migrants had been deported. But he wouldn’t go beyond that characterization, saying he would deliver better data later.
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