Watch Senator Capito’s Round 1 questioning here. For Round 2, click here.

To watch Senator Capito’s opening statement, click here.

 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, participated in subcommittee hearing today on the FY2023 Funding Request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

During the hearing, Senator Capito pressed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to dissolve the department’s recently announced Disinformation Governance Board, questioned him on the failed policies that have led to record levels of illegal border crossings, and urged him to implement deterrents to alleviate the ongoing southern border crisis.

Ranking Member Capito’s ROUND 1 questioning can be viewed here, and highlights can be found below.
Ranking Member Capito’s ROUND 2 questioning can be viewed here, and highlights can be found below.
Ranking Member Capito’s full opening statement can be viewed here, and read here.

ROUND 1 HIGHLIGHTS:

AMID BORDER CRISIS, BIDEN’S DHS FOCUSES ON POLICING FREE SPEECH: “First of all, the name in and of itself has, I think, has implications to all of us. I heard all about this all over the weekend of concern of sort of an Orwellian, you know, policing of speech. You yourself even admitted and you just repeated it here today that the rollout of this has been vastly, you say, misunderstood. So, I think quite honestly, for the good of the rest of the department that now is a good time to abandon this ludicrous and much-maligned idea. When you say that we have operational control of the border is that definitionally disinformation? Because from a lot of our perspectives we don't believe that is true. So it seems such a subjective and undefined what disinformation is. I would challenge you to punt this and rethink for the reasons that you mentioned….These are very sensitive issues to Americans who believe fundamentally in the right to freedom of speech.”

DHS: COVID ISN’T OVER SO WE WON’T FILL DETENTION BEDS TO CAPACITY. ALSO DHS: COVID IS OVER SO WE’RE LIFTING TITLE 42: “I want to ask about the ICE bed cut because I think this is important. You have testified that you don't have the resources…you mentioned you don't have the resources to really detain and hold people. We know that we have appropriated last year 34,000 beds but because of COVID, you only have those 75% occupied, which is sort of ironic in that Title 42 is going away under a COVID national emergency yet the ability to use all of your detention beds is stymied because of the COVID requirements by CDC. So that doesn't jive at all. How can you have at the one hand say you don't have the resources and on the other hand, come in with a budget that asks for funding for 9,000 fewer beds?”

ON THE DESPERATE NEED TO IMPLEMENT DETERRENCE POLICIES: “Deterrence is something that I don't think you've placed enough emphasis on. One of the deterrents is detention. Instead of putting an alternative to detention where you put a bracelet on…where there's 260,000 people in this country under this alternative to detention, and that number is growing. That's not a deterrent. And you stated over on the House side, that you're deporting folks after they have their asylum claims, but you didn't leave the…this is after six to eight years after they've been in the country waiting for their claim.”

ROUND 2 HIGHLIGHTS:

BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS FUELING WV’S DRUG EPIDEMIC: “On that issue of narcotics, obviously my state has the highest percentage per capita of death by overdose from opioids. Very, very sad situation. And it is coming from the southern border. So, when you think about it, when you have this flood of humanity coming over with not enough deterrent or no deterrence in some cases, it diverts your workforce away from interdicting these drugs. Because we know they’re coming in. We also know that the more people that come in, puts more money in the hands of the cartels, which allows them to up their ability to have a more robust drug trade. So there's there is a correlation here, and I'm concerned about that.”

YET ANOTHER REASON A DISINFORMATION GOVERNANCE BOARD AT DHS IS UNNECESSARY: “About the Disinformation Governance Board…I know that you have a large office of civil rights and civil liberties. Why should we continue to fund them if you're creating a whole other…establishing a new board or working groups? What’s wrong with what they're doing in this area?”

URGING DHS TO FOLLOW THE LAW:

SENATOR CAPITO: “Isn't the law that if you are denied a claim that you would be removed from the country?”
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: “Oh, that is indeed the case.”

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