Congressman Daniel Webster has joined fellow Republican lawmakers requesting the Department of Homeland Security to provide answers about an Office of the Inspector General report about migrants who have disappeared.
Webster, along with U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), and 28 other House Republicans, recently requested Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide answers after the OIG report revealed DHS’s alleged negligence in tracking nearly 177,000 migrants after entry revealing gross incompetency and risks to national security.
“Based on the OIG report and the countless incidents over the past two years, it is evident that migrants are disappearing into the interior of our country without DHS providing proper vetting and oversight of the critical information provided on release forms,” the members wrote. “The failure to properly vet and trace these individuals is yet another disservice to the law-abiding American public.”
The letter demands that Mayorkas provide answers to the following questions:
- What is your plan to improve internal requirements and processes when migrants do not have a valid U.S. address?
2. What efforts is DHS making to improve interagency communication to ensure migrants who are flagged by law enforcement can be located?
3. How many migrants with false addresses were flagged by law enforcement?
4. Approximately how many migrants does DHS estimate it has lost within U.S. borders due to migrants leaving fraudulent or public post-release addresses?
5. What are the names of the 25 charities listed by migrants in the OIG report? Were any of these charitable entities’ recipients of DHS grants of contacts?
Co-signers of the letter include Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ), Troy Balderson (R-OH), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Jake Ellzey (R-TX), Thomas P. Tiffany (R-WI), Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), John Rose (R-TN), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Brian Babin (R-TX), Scott Perry (R-PA), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), George Santos (R-NY), Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Keith Self (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Bob Good (R-VA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Scott Franklin (R-FL), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Michael Guest (R-MS), Ken Buck (R-CO) and Pete Stauber (R-MN).
Read the full letter text here.
