Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas found himself on defense Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee as Republicans grilled him on the record-high number of migrants who journeyed to the southwest border last fiscal year.
In the first hearing on oversight of the Department of Homeland Security under the Biden administration, Mayorkas defended the department’s policies and decisions to roll back some of the prior administration’s immigration restrictions, which Republicans blame for the higher migration levels.
Data released last month revealed last fiscal year was the busiest on record at the U.S.-Mexico border, with federal agents logging roughly 1.7 million encounters with migrants from October 2020 through September 2021.
