Sec. Mayorkas REFUSES To Say There Is a Crisis at the Border

Cruz: “Is there a crisis at our southern border?”
MAYORKAS: “Senator, there is a very significant —“
Cruz: “That’s a yes or no question.”
MAYORKAS: “There’s a very significant —“
Cruz: “Is there a crisis?”
MAYORKAS: “Senator, there’s a very significant challenge —“
Cruz: “I think your microphone is not on.”
MAYORKAS: “There is a very significant challenge that we are facing at our southern border.”
Cruz: “Yes or no. Is there a crisis?”
MAYORKAS: “I believe I’ve addressed that question.”
Cruz: “So you’re refusing to answer.”
MAYORKAS: “Senator, there is a very significant challenge and we are therefore —“ [crosstalk]
Cruz: “Will you answer if there’s a crisis?”
MAYORKAS: “— therefore, we are dedicating the resources —“
Cruz: “OK. So you’re refusing to answer. Well, Secretary Mayorkas, I’ll tell you someone who is willing to answer, which is you’re in President Biden’s chief of the Border Patrol in a sworn deposition in July of 2022, when asked, ‘Would you agree Chief Ortiz that the southern border is currently in crisis? Answer, ‘Yes.’ Notice, none of those wiggle words. None of that equivocation. One word, one syllable, yes. Are you willing to speak with the same clarity as chief Ortiz? Is there a crisis at our southern border? Yes or no.”
MAYORKAS: “Senator I’m very proud to work alongside —“ [crosstalk]
Cruz: “But you refused to answer.”

MAYORKAS: “... actually quite misleading.”
Cruz: “How many migrants died in 2022?”
MAYORKAS: “At approaching our southern border?”
Cruz: “Yes.”
MAYORKAS: “Precisely why we are seeking to exclude the smuggling —”
Cruz: “So you’re — do you know the answer? Do you know how many died?”
MAYORKAS: “I do not.”
Cruz: “You do not? Of course you don’t. I know how many died, 853.”
MAYORKAS: “That is”
Cruz: “853. And by the way, here’s the numbers that have died every year. You go back to 1998, you see, it’s consistently between 300 and 400. 300 and 400. Suddenly 2021, what happens? You get in office and that red line are dead bodies. I’ve been on the Rio Grande and I’ve seen dead bodies floating there who 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 farmers and ranchers who find pregnant ladies dead on their property, who find toddlers dead on their property? What do you say to them?”
MAYORKAS: “I say that is why precisely we are taking it to the smuggling organizations — [crosstalk]”
Cruz: “But you are not. That is simply not true.”
MAYORKAS: “Number two, it is why we are —”
MAYORKAS: “But let me read from ‘The Wall Street Journal.’ ‘The Wall Street Journal two weeks ago ran an article entitled, ‘It’s like a graveyard, record numbers of migrants are dying at the border.’ The story begins with this chilling line. Quote, ‘Eagle Pass, Texas. Local officials keep a refrigerated truck to hold the bodies of migrants who drown in the currents of the Rio Grande while trying to cross the border into the U.S.’ Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that this article be entered into the record.”