Mitt Romney Gives DHS Sec Mayorkas a Failing Grade During Scathing Rant About Border
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) tore into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the course of an uncharacteristically scintillating rant during Mayorkas’ appearance before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
The normally conciliatory Romney began by characterizing Mayorkas’ “hemisphere-wide concern and desire to address some of the root causes that encourage people to leave their countries and come to ours” as “an impossible task.”
“The United States of America is always going to be a more attractive place for people to come live than the countries that you’re describing,” continued Romney. “The idea that we’re going to somehow solve the root causes in all of Latin America of corruption, of the kind of military going on- it’s just not going to happen. So we’re going to have to secure our border.”
Romney went on to acknowledge the value of providing aid to other countries, before again lambasting to the Biden administration’s emphasis on root causes over border security.
“All the talk about ‘We need to address root causes,’ it’s like come on, guys,” said Romney. “This is taking our eye off the ball which is we need to have our border secure.”
When asked Mayorkas to provide a letter grade on how well the U.S. has secured its border, Mayorkas said that it was “not so straightforward.”
“Sure it is. We know how many people are coming across. Are we doing a great job or is it like still failing?” interjected Romney.
“Senator, we are dedicating our resources to achieve the maximum possible effect of them,” replied Mayorkas as Romney laughed scornfully.
“You’re not willing to give it a grade? I mean, I am! It’s an F. It’s clearly an F. Do you disagree?” asked the senator.
In his answer, Mayorkas returned to Romney’s point about root causes, defending the administration’s approach:
Addressing the root causes is not exclusive of securing our border. It is in addition to, it is a complement of, and it’s not about eliminating migration in its entirety. I agree with you. But it’s about reducing the level of migration so people who do not want to leave their countries of origin actually have the capacity to remain and build a life for themselves.
Romney remained unpersuaded, observing that “We can’t solve poverty here. We can’t end crime here, in our own country. The idea that we’re going to do it in dozens of countries across Latin America and reduce the desire of people to come to America is just not realistic.”
Watch the full exchange above.
