Republican Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, who serves as chairman of the House Budget Committee, sent a follow-up letter Thursday to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers about wasteful spending at the border.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter, which calls for specific answers to a number of questions regarding spending at the southern border and where specifically certain funds will go to prevent the flow of illegal immigration. Arrington also asks for the total cost of transporting, housing, relocating and releasing illegal aliens in DHS custody and how much funding DHS has disbursed to non-profits to house, feed and transport illegal aliens.
Arrington originally asked for answers to these questions in September, but the committee did not received a response by his Sept. 30 deadline.
“The American people deserve to know just how much President Biden’s failed border policies are costing them. The House Budget Committee has repeatedly sought specific information from Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security regarding the cost of these open-border policies to taxpayers,” Arrington told the Caller before sending the letter. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans Release Behind-The-Scenes Footage From Latest Border Trip)
Here is what Arrington is asking for:
- Documents sufficient to show the amount of congressionally appropriated funds for the border wall that remain withheld due to a programmatic delay.
- All documents and communications regarding the timeframe for the expenditure of any funds that remain withheld and the purposes and activities for which such funds will be spent.
- All documents and communications regarding the amount of funding expended by the Department of Homeland Security to address the influx of migrants at the southern border.
- All documents and communications regarding the amount of funding the Department of Homeland Security projects to spend on the border crisis in fiscal year 2024.
- Documents sufficient to show the total cost of transporting, housing, relocating, and releasing illegal aliens in Department of Homeland Security custody.
- All documents and communications regarding the amount of funding the Department of Homeland Security has disbursed to nonprofit organizations to house, feed and transport illegal aliens.
- Documents sufficient to show the amount of funding the Department of Homeland Security has allocated to construction of new border barriers, including the costs associated with unused materials due to the pause in construction of the border wall system.
- All documents and communications detailing how the Department of Homeland Security plans to use any supplemental funding for fiscal year 2024, including how such funding would be used to enforce security at the southern border.
READ THE LETTER HERE:
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers
“We haven’t heard a word. Secretary Mayorkas can answer these questions the easy way, or he can do so by being forced to come before Congress. Either way, this Committee will find those answers,” Arrington added. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Budget Chairman Arrington Presses Mayorkas Over Wasteful Border Spending)
Arrington is demanding a response to his questions no later than November 30, 2023.