The House Oversight Committee is getting ready to expand its investigations into the Biden administration’s border policies. After interviewing two chiefs overviewing sections of the southern border, Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) is planning to widen the scope of investigations and review the seven remaining chiefs who have yet to testify. Comer’s actions come after Republicans on the Committee accused the Department of Homeland Security of “obstructing congressional oversight.” According to Rep. Comer, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attempted to prevent four chiefs from testifying by refusing to permit Chief Patrol Agents to appear and testify before the Republican-led panel. Ever since the GOP took control of the House, firebrand conservatives have been pressuring the DHS to take responsibility for two years of out-of-control illegal immigration. According to reports, the DHS and Secretary Mayorkas have brought on council to fight rumored attempts at impeachment.
NEWSMAX: House Oversight Wants to Question All Border Sector Chiefs
By Charlie McCarthy; February 27, 2023
The House Oversight Committee is extending its investigation into the Biden administration’s U.S.-Mexico border policies.
Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., whose panel questioned two Border Patrol sector chiefs in its first border hearing in early February, wants transcribed interviews with the remaining seven chiefs overseeing sections along the southern border, Axios reported.
“The uniqueness of each sector demonstrates a need for the Committee to obtain additional information regarding other sectors on the southern border,” Comer writes in a letter to Border Patrol Acting Commissioner Troy Miller sent Sunday.
Comer added that the interviews would be conducted at the border to “accommodate the Chief Patrol Agents’ schedules and minimize impact to agency operations.”
Late last month, Comer sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accusing DHS of trying to prevent four sector chiefs from testifying before the panel. The committee then “accommodated DHS, accepting only two Chief Patrol Agents as witnesses, representing the Tucson and Rio Grande Valley sectors.”
Now, Comer wants to hear from the remaining sector chiefs.
“As one witness emphasized, ‘if you’ve seen one Border Patrol sector, you have only seen one Border Patrol sector,'” Comer wrote to Miller.
“One of the witnesses testified that Border Patrol agents have valuable information and experience to guide lawmakers in search of legislative solutions.”
Comer has requested testimony from border chiefs in the San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, El Paso, Big Bend, Del Rio, and Laredo Sectors.
In his Jan. 27 letter, Comer accused DHS of “obstructing congressional oversight.”
“Instead of working to facilitate the testimony of those law enforcement professionals, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is refusing to permit the four invited Chief Patrol Agents to appear and provide live testimony at a Committee hearing. DHS is obstructing congressional oversight,” Comer wrote to Mayorkas.
“DHS pays lip service to its own internal protocols in making this determination, and even argues that it is DHS’s prerogative — not Congress’s — to determine for congressional committees who would be an appropriate witness.”
With House Republicans continuing its probe of the administration’s southern border policies, DHS has hired counsel to prepare for potential impeachment inquiries, Axios reported.