Senator Josh Hawley holds United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, accountable for the growing number of American deaths by illegal immigrants.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Secretary, let’s just come back to Jose Ibarra, if we can. You know who that is? That’s a question.
Alejandro Mayorkas: I do.
Sen. Josh Hawley: You know what he did.
Alejandro Mayorkas: I know what he’s accused of doing,
Sen. Josh Hawley: Which is?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Murdering a young woman.
Sen. Josh Hawley: And that wasn’t the first crime that he committed in this country, was it?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator, as I’ve have articulated previously. I’m not going to speak about the facts of the case because there is an ongoing criminal investigation.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Have you read his parole file?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator. Same answer.
Sen. Josh Hawley: So you’re not going to say whether or not you’ve read the profile? I’ve got it right here. Have you read this?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator, I do not want to speak to the particulars of the case, given the pending criminal prosecution.
Sen. Josh Hawley: I find this interesting because you, this is a new answer today. You’ve changed your answers all over the map on this. And it looks like to me you just don’t want to answer the question. Two days ago. Two days ago, you were asked about this in the House Homeland Security Committee. I’ve got the transcripts right here in front of me.
You were asked the same question, Jose Ibarra. Why was he paroled? You said, I don’t know. You said I don’t know. I don’t have the case details with me today. Congressman Bishop says you don’t know. And you said, I don’t know. I don’t have the details with respect to that individual’s case, but I would be pleased to provide them to you, Congressman.
You didn’t know two days ago. Now, interestingly, on April the 10th, six days before that, you gave Senator Katy Brit a different answer. She asked you the same question. She said, why was Jose Ibarra paroled into the United States? You said, and I quote ranking member Brit, there was no derogatory information of which we were aware. So you were happy to comment on the case then on April the 10th, by April the 16th, you had developed amnesia.
And today you say you just won’t comment. So which is it, Mr. Secretary? Now that we have the file, I tell you what the difference is. Congressman Bishop didn’t have the profile and Senator Barrett didn’t have the profile. And now we do have the profile. And now we all know that the reason he was paroled into this country was because, lack of detention capacity, which, as you and I both know, is not a valid reason under the statute.
And now that we know that for sure, this is right out of the parole file, here it is. Subject was parole due to to detention capacity at the central processing center in El Paso, Texas. Now, suddenly you don’t want to talk about it. This is extraordinary. It’s also a pattern with you. So let me just try one more time.
Have you read the parole file?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator, I’m going to give the same answer. And then let me say . . .
Sen. Josh Hawley: Well, which one are you going to give me? The answer you gave to Senator Brant? Are you going to give the answer you gave to Congressman Bishop, or the answer you gave to Senator Paul? Or do you want to try a fourth one?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator, I will not speak to the particulars of the case given the pending criminal process.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Oh. I’m sure. Well, you certainly, of course you don’t want to, because it is an absolutely damning indictment of your policies. Let’s just review Jose Barrera and how Ibarra rather and how he came to be here. On September the 8th, 2022. He was encountered by United States Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, and was paroled into the United States due to lack of detention capacity. A provision, a proviso, a rule that is not permitted under the statute. You and I both know you know this. You knew it when you were talking to Congressman Bishop. You knew it when you were testifying to Senator Brit, and you know it today. You just never wanted to cop to it because the statute doesn’t permit it. And so you lied to Congressman Bishop, and you lied to Senator Brit.
And now you are hiding behind the ongoing prosecution excuse, because it’s the last one left to you, because you testified falsely under oath. Then on July 19th, 2023, Ibarra reports for a biometric appointment and was fingerprinted. This is now in New York. The results come back and indicate he has a criminal history. So he’s in this country. He has a criminal history.
September 14th. He is arrested in New York by NYPD. For what? Injuring a child. September 14th, 2023 he is arrested for injuring a child. What happens? The offense was never prosecuted and the arrest was expunged. I’m reading right out of the profile. Expunged. Nothing is done to this guy. He had a criminal record to start with. He’s in the country on illegal grounds.
You have falsely and illegally allowed him in. He commits a crime against a child. He’s not prosecuted. It’s expunged. In November. Get this. In November, Ibarra files an application for employment authorization. And unbelievably, on December the 9th, 2023, it’s approved. So this is your policies in action, Mr. Secretary. A criminal is permitted into this country on grounds flatly not permitted, flatly contradictory to the statute.
He commits a crime against the child, and then he gets a work permit. He gets a work permit. You want to know why all of the jobs in the last 2 or 3 years have gone to illegal migrants. Working people in this country can’t get a job, they’re unemployment rates high. Why? Because of things like this. And then what’s he do?
Well, we all know that in February he commits the heinous crime against Laken Riley. Is this a record that you are proud of?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator, you’ve misstated some facts I have read from the parole file, which you have said you don’t recall, don’t have you mis cited? I’m reading from it. It is right here. And I just pursuant to the speech and debate clause, I have just read it into the record.
And the reason is, you have lied repeatedly to Congress and to the American people about this. They deserve to know. And the only way they’re going to know is if I tell them. I’ve just told them, it’s in the record now. I’ve read it verbatim from the parole file, verbatim. I just want to know, why did you change your story so often?
Why didn’t you just answer honestly to Congressman Bishop and Senator Brit?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Senator, I am I am confident that justice will be vindicated in the criminal prosecution of the case.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Well, hopefully he’ll get more of a trial than you got. Otherwise, there be no justice for anyone at all.
Let me ask you something else, Travis Wolf. Do you know that name?
Alejandro Mayorkas: Not off the top of my head.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Travis Wolf, as a 12 year old boy from Missouri. This is him. Travis was killed on December 20th, 2023. Or I should say, he was in a a tragic attack on that night. He died some weeks later, head on collision. The person driving the vehicle who’s now been charged with six criminal counts is Endrina Bracho. Do you know who that is?
Alejandro Mayorkas: I do not, but, let me, communicate that I know that all of our hearts break for the family of this young boy who died in that accident.
Sen. Josh Hawley: Well, she’s an illegal migrant here from Venezuela. Local law enforcement tell me that she was detained briefly at the border in 2023 and then released. And then she commits this crime.
Multiple people have been stabbed in O’Fallon, Missouri, by illegal migrants.
Mr. Secretary, I know that you think your policies are a success. You’ve sat right there in that chair and you’ve told me over and over, our policies are working. You’re on the record years and years saying that. Maybe they’re working for you, maybe they’re working for your political objectives, whatever they may be, I don’t know. But they’re not working for Laken Riley or Travis Wolf or the people of my state. They are, in fact, a travesty. What you have done is a travesty. And, sir, it is long past time for you to go.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
