Southern border with Mexico is an absolute disaster - because of the failed Biden immigration policy!

 

Congress to hold hearing on Biden's border wall waste after Washington Examiner reporting

by Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security Reporter | July 17, 2023 washingtonexaminer.com

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/congress-hearing-biden-border-wall-washington-examiner-series

House Republicans will hold a congressional hearing to investigate how the Biden administration's cancellation of Trump-era border wall projects has negatively affected the country after a Washington Examiner series last week exposed the billions of dollars wasted.

Two of the House Homeland Security Committee's subcommittees will hold a joint hearing Tuesday, titled "Opening the Flood Gates: Biden's Broken Border Barrier."

e hearing was triggered by the Washington Examiner's four-part series "Wall of Waste", which exposed billions of dollars of wasted federal government spending and fields of rusting border wall materials, according to a committee spokesperson.

“Nearly three years after the Biden administration canceled hundreds of border wall construction contracts, Americans like New Mexico rancher Russell Johnson are still reeling from the impacts. We appreciate the Examiner’s coverage of this important issue that seems to be buried in today’s news cycle," the committee official said in a statement. "The Committee looks forward to hearing from Mr. Johnson this week about his experiences and will continue to shed a light on the impact the Biden administration’s policies are having on Americans.”

 

Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner

The Washington Examiner traveled to Deming, New Mexico, earlier this month and met with fourth-generation cattle rancher Russell Johnson, who said the Biden administration's decision to cancel the border wall that ran through his eight miles of property had harmed his family, land, and livestock.

Johnson showed piles of steel behind his house that were sitting a few hundred feet from a nearly mile-long gap in the wall, which had funneled human and drug smuggling organizations to operate in his backyard.

Johnson told the Washington Examiner Monday morning that he had been invited to testify on Tuesday and was on his way to Washington with a message for Democrats and Republicans.

"Ideally, I would like to see the wall finished with all the associated technology that goes with it. In many areas, all of the materials are still staged ready for installation," Johnson wrote in a text message to the Washington Examiner. "I hope that President Biden and his administration show leadership and acknowledge that the United States does not have operational control of our southern border under his current policies. This administration needs to listen to people who live with and are directly impacted by the situation on the border to reach a solution."

Steel beams sit not far from a 3/4 mile gap in the border wall.

Anna Giaritelli / Washington Examiner

The Washington Examiner series also exposed how the Biden administration agreed to fill in 129 gaps in the border wall and had quietly begun doing so — though the gap projects make up a tiny percentage of the 300 miles of unbuilt border wall that had been funded during the Trump administration.

Additionally, the lack of a wall was grounds for Arizona and Texas to dramatically step up their border security operations, which have put state residents on the hook for several billions of dollars of spending, which Democrats have accused Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) of politicizing.

"For too long, the issues surrounding the border and its security have been politicized to the point that neither party has made any meaningful change," Johnson said. "The safety, security, and sovereignty of this nation should not be a partisan issue. It's time that America and its citizens are put first."

The House Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, led by Chairman Clay Higgins (R-LA), and the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability, led by Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC), have scheduled the hearing for 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

Other witnesses at the hearing include Customs and Border Protection's acting Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner for Enterprise Services Ntina Cooper; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Head of Contracting Services Col. Jason Jefferis; the Government Accountability Office's director of homeland security and justice, Rebecca Gambler; former Border Patrol Chief Ron Vitiello; LoneStar Pipeline Contractor's interim Chief Executive Officer Jim De Sotle; and the University of California San Diego Health's neurological surgery resident, Dr. Alexander Tenorio.