The Political Insider

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

After repeatedly refusing to answer questions and not knowing answers to other questions posed to him during a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas he should resign.

At the Tuesday hearing on oversight of the agency tasked with securing the border, Cruz asked Mayorkas, “Is there a crisis at our southern border?” Mayorkas replied, “There is a very significant challenge.”

Cruz said, “That’s a yes or no question.” Mayorkas repeated his statement.

RELATED: New U.S. Border Data: 284 Suspected Terrorists Apprehended So Far in Fiscal 2023

“Yes or no, is there a crisis at our southern border?” Cruz asked another two times. Mayorkas didn’t answer the question.

“Someone who is willing to answer,” Cruz said, is “your and President Biden’s chief of the Border Patrol in a sworn deposition,” referring to one taken in a Florida lawsuit last year of Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who answered “yes” to the same question.

“Are you willing to speak with the same clarity as Chief Ortiz? Is there a crisis at the southern border? Yes or no?” Cruz asked. Mayorkas refused to answer the question.

“Has the crisis at the southern border made Americans less safe? Yes or no,” Cruz asked. Mayorkas replied, “We are dedicated to the safety of Americans.”

Cruz said, “It’s a yes or no question.” Mayorkas refused to answer the question.

“Let me show you how someone does his job by answering a question in a straightforward manner,” Cruz said, pointing to the testimony of Ortiz. “Will you show the same integrity Chief Ortiz shows?” again repeating his question. Mayorkas refused to answer the question.

“Has the crisis made aliens less safe, yes or no?” Cruz asked and got the same nonresponse. Cruz asked him the same question two more times.

Mayorkas began to reply, “the smuggling organizations…” referring to but not naming Mexican cartels before he was cut off by Cruz, who said he was refusing to answer his questions.

RELATED: It’s Time To End Mexican Cartels’ Reign of Terror

“How many migrants have died under President [Joe] Biden?” Cruz next asked. Mayorkas replied, “Your phrasing of the question is actually quite misleading.”

“How many died in 2022?” Cruz asked, “Do you know?” Mayorkas replied, “I do not.”

“Of course you don’t,” Cruz said. “I know how many died, 853.”

Cruz then went through the number of deaths reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection going back to 1998, which were consistently between 300 and 400 every year until 2021. Cruz said, “Suddenly, 2021, you get into office and that red line are dead bodies. I’ve been on the Rio Grande [River] and I’ve seen dead bodies floating there [after they’ve] drowned because of your refusal to do your job.”

“You don’t even know how many have died. What do you say to the Texas ranchers who find pregnant ladies dead on their property, who find toddlers dead on their property? What do you say to them?”

Mayorkas replied, “That is why we are taking it to the smuggling organizations.”

“But you are not,” Cruz replied. “That is simply not true.”

“How many children have been sexually assaulted by human traffickers under the Biden administration?” Cruz asked.

“This is precisely why we instituted” a parole program, Mayorkas replied, referring to a policy he put in place to release illegal foreign nationals into the U.S., which a federal judge recently ruled was illegal.

RELATED: Father of Teen Killed by Fentanyl Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee on Border Crisis

Cruz asked him two more times: “Do you know how many children have been sexually assaulted?” Mayorkas refused to answer the question.

“How many murderers have you released into America?” Cruz asked. Mayorkas replied, “I’m not aware of any murderer.”

CBP regularly reports on violent criminal foreign nationals apprehended after illegally entering the U.S., including murderers, rapists, sex offenders, gang and cartel members, on which The Center Square has reported over the last two years.

“How many rapists have you released?” Cruz asked. “How many child molesters have you released?

“So your testimony under oath subject to perjury is you have not released any murderers, rapists and child molesters among the 5.5 million?” Cruz asked. “Is that your testimony? Yes or no?”

Mayorkas said, “You’re not allowing me to answer your question.” Cruz replied, “I’m allowing you to answer yes or no. I’m not allowing you to filibuster.”

“Do you know how many gotaways are murderers?” Cruz asked. Mayorkas didn’t answer.

“Do you know how many [gotaways] are rapists?” Cruz asked. Mayorkas sat in silence.

“Do you know how many are terrorists?” Cruz asked. Mayorkas couldn’t answer the question.

Nearly 300 known or suspected terrorists have been apprehended so far this fiscal year, The Center Square has reported.

RELATED: 42 Texas Counties Now Support Declaring Invasion at Southern Border

Cruz showed Mayorkas wristbands worn by foreign nationals that are used by cartels to track how much money they owe to be smuggled across the border, as officials have explained to The Center Square.

Cruz asked Mayorkas, “What are these wrist bands?” Mayorkas replied, “I don’t know.”

Nearly falling out of his chair in disbelief, Cruz asked, “You don’t know what they are?”

“You have just testified to the American people you are incompetent at your job,” he said. “These are modern day leg irons. Children wearing them are being sold into sex slavery and you don’t even know what they are. That is astonishing.

“Your behavior is disgraceful. The deaths, the children assaulted, the children raped, they are at your feet. If you had integrity, you would resign.”

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.