Category: Alejandro Mayorkas

‘No Statutory Authority Exists’ to Back DHS Disinformation Board, Republican AGs Say, Warning Legal Action

A group of Republican attorneys general warned of legal action against the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new Disinformation Governance Board, stating that “no statutory authority” exists to back its creation. In a letter (pdf) submitted on May 5 to DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas, Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares, joined by 19 other Republican attorneys…


Biden Administration Ends Plan to Send Veterans Affairs Staffers to Border

President Joe Biden’s administration has scrapped its plan to send workers from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help with the border crisis, a top official said on May 4. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the administration had decided against attempting to send VA staffers to the U.S.–Mexico border. “We are not…


Suspected Terrorists Who Crossed Border Into United States May Have Been Released: Mayorkas

Some of the 42 illegal immigrants who were arrested by U.S. border agents and identified as suspected terrorists may have been released into the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandryo Mayorkas said on May 4. “Some may be placed in removal proceedings. Some may be placed in criminal custody. Some may be cooperating with law…


House Republicans Introduce Bill to Defund Biden Administration’s ‘Disinformation Board’

Republicans in the House of Representatives on May 3 introduced legislation that would ax funding for the newly announced “disinformation governance board.” “The government has no role in determining what constitutes truth or acceptable speech, and this dystopian, unconstitutional board must be dissolved,” Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), who led the 50 Republicans backing the bill,…


Capitol Report (May 2): SCOTUS: Boston Can’t Ban Christian Flag

The Supreme Court ruled on a dispute over flying a religious flag outside Boston City Hall. We talked to the person who fought to fly the flag about what his victory meant. The U.S. embassy is now planning to move back into Ukraine’s capital, and a group of lawmakers wrapped up their trip to the…


Mayorkas Claims Disinformation Governance Board Misrepresented, ‘Not About Speech,’ But Violence

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has admitted that he fared poorly in communicating the purpose of the department’s newly created Disinformation Governance Board, which critics have lambasted as a threat to free speech. The board has been created to address disinformation which poses a “security threat to the homeland,” Mayorkas said…


Mayorkas Can’t Say Whether Suspected Terrorists Arrested at Border Were Released

U.S. authorities have arrested 42 suspected terrorists at the U.S.–Mexico border under President Joe Biden and some may have been released into the country. “I don’t know,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on April 28 when asked if any were released during a hearing on Capitol Hill. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disclosed the…


Ending Border Wall Construction Cost DHS $72 Million: Mayorkas

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told House members Wednesday that it has cost taxpayers roughly $72 million to halt construction on the wall along the U.S. southern border. Mayorkas testifies this week in front of multiple Congressional subcommittees as his department requests a $2.9 billion increase in discretionary spending for the next…


Biden Administration Releases Plan to Deal With Expected Illegal Immigration Surge

President Joe Biden’s administration has released a plan to deal with the expected surge in illegal immigration across the U.S.–Mexico border once the emergency Title 42 policy is terminated in May. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas laid out the plan in a 20-page memorandum, outlining a series of “pillars” that officials are already putting into…


Biden Administration Urges Supreme Court to Let It Drop ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program

The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on April 26 that it should not have to continue operating the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program that required non-Mexican asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border to wait in Mexico for processing. The case at hand is Biden v. Texas, court file 21-954. The high court agreed on…