CV NEWS FEED // Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, grilled Biden administration Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday when it was revealed that his department released the illegal migrant who would go on to murder Laken Riley due to a purported “lack of detention capacity.”
The tense exchange came one day after the Democratic-controlled Senate voted to dismiss both charges of impeachment against Mayorkas, after only a few hours of proceedings.
The Washington Times reported Thursday that the Mayorkas-led Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released Riley’s killer, Jose Ibarra, “into the U.S. because it lacked the detention space,” per the illegal Venezuelan migrant’s “confidential immigration file.”
Ibarra “was released under [Mayorkas’] power of parole, which is supposed to be used in limited cases and only when there is an urgent humanitarian need or a significant benefit to the public,” the Times added.
Hawley read Ibarra’s file in front of Mayorkas during a hearing on the Senate floor Thursday. Before Hawley did so, the secretary repeatedly refused to answer his questions relating to the horrific murder of Riley, a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student.
“Mr. Secretary, let’s just come back to Jose Ibarra if we can,” the senator said at the beginning of the exchange. “You know who that is? … You know what he did?”
“I know what he’s accused of doing,” Mayorkas answered.
“Which is?” Hawley asked.
“Murdering a young woman,” the secretary replied.
“And that wasn’t the first crime that he committed in this country? Was it?” Hawley pressed him.
“I’m not going to speak about the facts of the case because there is an ongoing criminal investigation,” responded Mayorkas.
“Have you read [Ibarra’s] parole file?,” Hawley proceeded to ask the DHS chief.
“Senator, same answer,” the embattled secretary said.
Hawley then lifted up the parole file and asked Mayorkas again if he had read it.
“Senator, I don’t want to speak to the particulars of the case given the pending criminal prosecution,” Mayorkas reiterated.
“I find this interesting,” Hawley stated. “Because this is a new answer today. You’ve changed your answers all over the map on this and it looks like to me you just don’t want to answer the question.”
Hawley recounted that at a Tuesday House hearing, Mayorkas told Rep. Dan Bishop, R-NC, that he did not know why the murderer was released on parole.
However, on April 10, as Hawley pointed out, the secretary told Sen. Katie Britt, R-AL, that “there was no derogatory information of which we were aware.”
“You were happy to comment on the case … on April 10, by April 16 you had developed amnesia and today you say you just won’t comment,” Hawley summarized. “So, which is it Mr. Secretary?”
The lawmaker pointed out both Bishop and Britt did not have Ibarra’s parole file when they had asked Mayorkas the question.
“And now we do have the parole file,” Hawley then said. “And now we all know that the reason [Ibarra] was paroled into this country was because ‘lack of detention capacity.’”
“Which, as you and I both know, is not a valid reason under the statute,” Hawley emphasized. “And now that we know that for sure … now suddenly you don’t want to talk about it.”
“This is extraordinary,” the senator said to Mayorkas. “It is also a pattern with you.”
Hawley then asked Mayorkas if he read the parole file.
To this, Mayorkas replied: “Senator, I’m going to give the same answer.”
“Well which one?” Hawley asked. “Are you going to give me the answer you gave to Senator Britt, are you going to give me the answer you gave to Congressman Bishop, or the answer you gave to Senator Paul, or are you going to try a fourth one.”
>> SENATE DEMS KILL MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT, CLAIM IT WAS ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ <<
“Senator, I will not speak to the particulars of the case given the pending criminal investigation,” Biden’s DHS Secretary again said.
“Of course you don’t want to,” Hawley remarked. “Because it is an absolutely damning indictment of your policies.”
“You have lied repeatedly to Congress and to the American people about this,” the impassioned Senator told Mayorkas later on in the exchange.
Hawley asked Mayorkas why he had not been honest about the reason Ibarra was paroled into the country.
“Senator, I am confident that justice will be vindicated in the criminal prosecution of the case,” the secretary answered.
“Well, hopefully [Ibarra will] get more of a trial than you got,” Hawley quipped.
Readers can find a video of the full exchange here.
