In a letter on Thursday, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) called for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to release the required data on illegal immigration encounters by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
“It is unacceptable that the Biden Administration hasn’t released these numbers – no matter how much they try to dodge, Americans know there is a crisis at our Southern Border that is making us all less safe,” Hinson said to Breitbart News in an interview. “The Administration needs to own up to their failures and be transparent with the American people.”
Hinson sent the letter to Mayorkas because the DHS is yet to release figures for September's 2022 unlawful immigration encounters data as of mid-October.
“We are now more than halfway through October and your department has failed to report the required numbers for Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encounters in September 2022,” Hinson wrote in her letter to Mayorkas.
The Iowa congresswoman also noted she was concerned that the border was still not secure:
We are experiencing a full-blown crisis at the border. I, and many of my colleagues, have seen it firsthand. Since President Biden took office, CBP has encountered over 3.5 million illegal immigrants at the Southern Border — that is more than the entire population of my home state of Iowa. So far in fiscal year 2022, CBP had more than 2 million encounters for the first time in history. However, we still do not have the full picture for the fiscal year, in part because of your decision to delay the release of this essential data.
An open border makes every state a border state; this crisis is a threat to our national security and to Iowa families. Keeping these numbers from lawmakers and the American public is irresponsible and wrong. Iowans want transparency. They deserve to know how many people are caught crossing the border, regardless of the Biden Administration's refusal to address the border crisis. Hiding this information is an attempt to keep the truth from the American people.
“Mr. Secretary, it is time to take responsibility for the crisis you have created and stop hiding the results of your Administration’s failed border policies. I call on you to immediately release the illegal immigrant encounter numbers to the American people,” Hinson concluded in her letter to Mayorkas.
