Members of the Biden administration are becoming "a little bit more belligerent" with their answers about the situation at the nation's border because they can't answer questions about the numbers of immigrants that are coming into the United States, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald said on Newsmax Thursday.
"So you know they're getting a little more testy, I guess is the best way to describe it, because quite honestly, they don't have any good answers," the Wisconsin Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
Fitzgerald was commenting on a contentious exchange Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had on Wednesday with Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., during a virtual hearing with the Homeland Security Committee concerning threats to the homeland.
Gimenez asked the secretary to clarify how many immigrants had been caught at the border so far this year, with Mayorkas responding there were about 1.5 million, reports The New York Post.
But when Gimenez grilled Mayorkas on how many people were returned, detained, or dispersed throughout the United States, noting the same question had been asked of the secretary the day before, he said he works 18 hour days and he was more focused on the crisis situation than he was on finding data."
"The responses are starting to really kind of fall apart on him," said Fitzgerald. "We know what the numbers are. You know, I saw when I was down at McAllen, Texas, [there were] refugees pouring across being temporarily housed from 24 to 72 hours, and then simply dispersed throughout the rest of the nation."
Meanwhile, Fitzgerald pointed out that more than 200,000 immigrants were apprehended just in the last month, and that's "mind-boggling."
"No one has ever seen this type of influx before and the problem, I think, is that they're not resourced for this," said Fitzgerald. "I mean, that's why there's more and more lawmakers calling for the National Guard to be not only activated but deployed to the border. You know the Border Patrol and immigration, they're not prepared for this. There's no way that they can handle the sheer numbers that we're seeing at this point."
There is also a concern about the immigrants' health status, as there are "zero health checks going on" as they enter the United States.
"COVID is one thing but anything else that could emerge from this growing population that's being dispersed, that's becoming a bigger, bigger concern all the time," said Fitzgerald.
The congressman also commented on the controversy over Border Patrol agents working from horseback near the Del Rio Bridge, where thousands of migrants, mainly Haitians, have gathered.
He defended the agents after Democrats have been slamming them, including Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who called what happened "worse than what we witnessed in slavery."
"This is the worst type of politics that could be played. When somebody takes something like that and just exploits it last night on the floor of the House," said Fitzgerald. "There were a number of members that that actually, you know, reiterated and doubled down on the idea that somehow members of the Border Patrol that are on horseback are whipping immigrants as they come across. I mean, it's just it's one of those ugly parts of politics that somehow they think they can get the upper hand by continuing to reiterate this false story."
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