December 8, 2023

The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas

Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
3017 7th St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20528

Dear Secretary Mayorkas:

The Committee on the Judiciary continues to conduct oversight of the Biden

Administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law. On September 20, 2023, a massive
influx of illegal aliens in Eagle Pass so overwhelmed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) closed two of the city’s three international
bridges—Bridge 1 and the international rail bridge, the second busiest rail crossing along the
U.S.-Mexico border.1 While thousands of illegal aliens flooded into Eagle Pass, shutting down
lawful commerce across the bridges, the Biden Administration’s DHS cut and removed
Concertina wire and fencing installed as a deterrent by state and local governments, helping the
aliens cross illegally.2

On November 6, 2023, we wrote to you requesting information and documents regarding

the September 20 crisis in Eagle Pass and other related topics.3 We requested a response by no
later than November 20.4 On November 22, 2023, Committee staff followed up with DHS Office
of Legislative Affairs about the status of these requests.5 To date, however, the Department has
not replied or provided an adequate response to our requests.

1
Eagle Pass, TX: Texas Border Facts, TEXAS DEP’T OF PUB. TRANSP., https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot/move-texas-
freight/resources/fact-sheets/border/eagle-pass.pdf; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Statement from CBP on
Operations in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND SEC. (Sept. 20, 2023),
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/statement-cbp-operations-eagle-pass-texas.
2
Greg Abbott (@Greg_AbbottTX), TWITTER (Sept. 20, 2023, 4:54 PM),
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1704614936218149361.
3
Letter from Jim Jordan et al., Chairman, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Alejandro Mayorkas Sec’y, U.S. Dep’t of
Homeland Security (Nov. 6, 2023).
4
Id.
5
E-mail from Comm. staff, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Off. of Legislative Affairs, U.S. Dep’t of Homeland
Security (Nov. 22, 2023) (on file with Comm.).
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
December 8, 2023
Page 2

Such mass influx events of illegal aliens into the country are becoming more and more
common. On November 27, 2023, DHS once again suspended vehicle traffic at International
Bridge 1 in Eagle Pass “[i]n response to [an] influx in [illegal alien] encounters,” while the
Office of Field Operations was similarly forced to reduce vehicle traffic at a border checkpoint in
Lukeville, Arizona.6 The reoccurrence of these incidents only underscores the importance of the
Committee’s oversight.

DHS’s failure to produce the requested communications and information prevents the
Committee from fulfilling its constitutional oversight obligations. Accordingly, we write to
reiterate our outstanding requests in our November 6, 2023, letter, which is attached for your
convenience.7 Please provide this information as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 p.m. on
December 22, 2023. Please be advised that the Committee may be forced to resort to compulsory
process if these requests remain outstanding.

Sincerely,

Jim Jordan Tom McClintock

Chairman Chairman
Subcommittee on Immigration
Integrity, Security, and Enforcement

Ben Cline
Chairman
Subcommittee on Responsiveness and
Accountability to Oversight

cc: The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Ranking Member

The Honorable Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Immigration

Integrity, Security, and Enforcement

The Honorable Eric Swalwell, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Responsiveness and

Accountability to Oversight

Enclosure

6
U.S. Customs and Border Prot., Statement from CBP on Operations in Eagle Pass, Texas and Lukeville, Arizona,
U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND SEC. (Nov. 27, 2023) (on file with Comm.).
7
U.S. Customs and Border Prot., Statement from CBP on Operations in Eagle Pass, Texas and Lukeville, Arizona,
U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND SEC. (Nov. 27, 2023) (on file with Comm.).
 November 6, 2023

The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas

Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
3017 7th St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20528

Dear Secretary Mayorkas:

The Committee on the Judiciary continues to conduct oversight of the Biden

Administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law. As a direct result of the actions taken
by this Administration, the United States is experiencing the worst illegal immigration crisis in
our nation’s history. Since President Biden took office, Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
has encountered more than 6.3 million illegal aliens along the southwest border.1 The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released nearly 2.9 million illegal aliens into U.S.
communities,2 and more than 1.7 million known “gotaways” have evaded Border Patrol and
escaped into the interior since January 20, 2021.3

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Southwest Land Border Encounters, U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND SEC. (last
accessed Oct. 30, 2023, 2023), https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters.
2
See H. Comm. on the Judiciary, Rep. on The Biden Border Crisis: How the Biden Administration Opened the Sw.
Border and Abandoned Interior Immigr. Enf’t at App’x 1 (Oct. 9, 2023), https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-
subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023-10-09-New-Data-and-Testimony.pdf
(“DHS released at least 2,148,738 illegal aliens into the United States.”); U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP
Releases Sept. 2023 Monthly Update, U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND SEC. (Oct. 21, 2023) (“[O]ver 240,000 Cubans,
Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans [] were granted parole under the parole processes [through September
2023.]”; U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Custody and Transfer Statistics FY 2023, U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND
SECURITY (last accessed Oct. 25, 2023), https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/custody-and-transfer-statistics
(reporting that, between April 2023 and September 2023, 507,873 illegal aliens were released with a notice to appear
(NTA) on their own recognizance or paroled). Under the Biden Administration, at least 2,896,611 illegal aliens have
been released into the United States.
3
Casey Harper, Border crisis creates national security threat for U.S., observers say, WASH. EXAMINER (Aug. 7,
2023), https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/border-crisis-creates-national-security-threat-for-u-s-observers-
say.
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
November 6, 2023
Page 2

On July 27, 2023, during your testimony before the Committee, you stated that the Biden
Administration’s “approach to managing the border . . . is working.”4 You went on to testify that
“unlawful entries between ports of entry along the Southwest border have consistently decreased
by more than half compared to the peak before the end of Title 42.”5 Recent news of border
encounters contradicts your claims.
In just five days in September, more than 45,000 illegal aliens were encountered at the
southwest border.6 According to press reports, an estimated 4,000 of those encounters occurred
in a single day—September 20—in the small border town of Eagle Pass, Texas.7 According to
news outlets, these high encounter numbers continue to rise, with “approximately 11,000 migrant
encounters at the [southwest] border” in a single day in late September, which marked the
“single highest day in recent memory.”8
In the days before September 20, news outlets reported that a Mexican cargo train of
foreign nationals—who were chanting “let us continue”—was en route to Piedras Negras,
Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass.9 The day before the train arrived, the city
was forced to declare a state of emergency.10 Predictably, CBP was so overwhelmed by the
massive influx that hundreds of illegal aliens had to wait under the international bridge,
reminiscent of the crisis that occurred two years ago when thousands of Haitian illegal aliens
waited under the bridge in Del Rio, Texas.11 As a result, on September 20, 2023, CBP closed two
of the three international bridges in Eagle Pass—Bridge 1 and the international rail bridge, the
second busiest rail crossing along the U.S.-Mexico border.12 Once again, the Biden
Administration’s policies prioritized the processing of illegal aliens to the detriment of the
American people by shutting down legitimate trade and travel via the international bridges in
Eagle Pass.

At the same time, the Biden Administration, rather than deterring illegal aliens attempting
to cross the southwest border, chose to cut and remove Concertina wire and fencing installed by

4
Oversight of the Dep’t of Homeland Security: Hearing Before the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 118th Cong. (2023)
(statement of Alejandro Mayorkas, Sec’y, Dep’t of Homeland Security).
5
Id.
6
Adam Shaw & Bill Melugin, Thousands of Venezuelan migrants gather under Texas bridge as border numbers
skyrocket, FOX NEWS (Sept. 20, 2023), https://www.foxnews.com/politics/thousands-venezuelan-migrants-gather-
under-texas-bridge-border-numbers-skyrocket.
7
Shaw & Melugin, supra note 6.
8
Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins), TWITTER (Sept. 25, 2023, 10:47 AM),
https://twitter.com/GriffJenkins/status/1706319520753701112.
9
Greg Wehner & Bill Melugin, Mexican train with hundreds of migrants onboard stopped, passengers chant, 'Let us
continue', FOX NEWS (Sept. 19, 2023), https://www.foxnews.com/us/mexican-train-hundreds-migrants-onboard-
stopped-passengers-chant-let-us-continue.
10
Official City of Eagle Pass Texas (@CityEaglePassTx), TWITTER (Sept. 20, 2023, 10:13 AM),
https://twitter.com/CityEaglePassTx/status/1704498968154009806.
11
Shaw & Melugin, supra note 6.
12
Eagle Pass, TX: Texas Border Facts, TEXAS DEP’T OF PUB. TRANSP., https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot/move-texas-
freight/resources/fact-sheets/border/eagle-pass.pdf; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Statement from CBP on
Operations in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. DEP’T OF HOMELAND SEC. (Sept. 20, 2023),
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/statement-cbp-operations-eagle-pass-texas.
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
November 6, 2023
Page 3

state and local governments in Eagle Pass, Texas.13 In fact, as encounters continued to surge in
Eagle Pass, and while a lawsuit challenging the practice was pending, the Biden Administration
“escalated matters, trading bolt cutters for an industrial-strength telehandler forklift to dismantle
Texas’s border fence…”14 Days later, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order,
largely halting the Administration from cutting, interfering with, or removing Concertina wire
installed by the State of Texas.15

To assist the Committee with its continued oversight of federal immigration policy and
procedures, we ask that you please provide the following materials:

1. All documents and communications between or among DHS or its components and the
Executive Office of the President, local and state governments (including law
enforcement entities), foreign governments, or non-governmental organizations referring
or relating to:

a. The ingress and egress of foreign nationals en route to the United States preceding
the September 20, 2023, influx in Eagle Pass, Texas;

b. The transport of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States in response to
the September 20, 2023, influx in Eagle Pass, Texas;

c. The September 20, 2023, closure of Bridge 1 and the international railway
crossing bridge located in Eagle Pass, Texas;

2. All documents and communications between or among DHS or its components and the
Executive Office of the President, local and state governments (including law
enforcement entities), foreign governments, or non-governmental organizations referring
or relating to:

a. Cutting, interfering with, or removing Concertina wire and fencing installed by

state and local governments at the southwest border, including the decision to cut
or interfere with Concertina wire before, during, or after the September 20, 2023,
influx in Eagle Pass, Texas, and an identification of the individual(s) who made
the decision to cut or interfere with the Concertina wire;

b. Whether the Administration has a policy to cut or interfere with Concertina wire
or fencing installed by state or local governments, allowing illegal aliens to enter
the country, and an explanation of such policy;

13
Greg Abbott (@Greg_AbbottTX), TWITTER (Sept. 20, 2023, 4:54 PM),
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1704614936218149361.
14
The State of Texas v. U.S. Department of Homeland Sec., et al., No. 2:23-CV-00055-AM at *3 (W.D. Texas, Del
Rio Div., Oct. 27, 2023).
15
The State of Texas v. U.S. Department of Homeland Sec., et al., No. DR-23-CV-00055-AM at *2 (W.D. Texas, Del
Rio Div., Oct. 30, 2023).
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
November 6, 2023
Page 4

3. All documents or communications referring or relating to intelligence related to the

increased ingress and egress of foreign nationals from the Darien Gap;

4. All documents or communications referring or relating to the number and percentage of

illegal aliens presenting at a port of entry and the number and percentage of illegal aliens
encountered between ports of entry since January 20, 2021;

5. All documents or communications referring or relating to any plans to expand categorical

parole programs, including the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) parole
programs, to include additional nationalities;

6. All documents or communications referring or relating to the September 20, 2023,

decision to redesignate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and other efforts
to expand or expedite employment authorization documents for illegal aliens;

7. All documents or communications referring or relating to any efforts or plans to impose

consequences on aliens who illegally cross the southwest border; and

8. All documents or communications referring or relating to the number of “gotaways,”

known and unknown, who have entered the U.S. since January 20, 2021.

Please provide this information as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 p.m. on
November 20, 2023. Pursuant to the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on
the Judiciary is authorized to conduct oversight of federal immigration policy and procedures.16
If you have any questions, please contact Committee staff at (202) 225-6906. Thank you for your
prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Jim Jordan Tom McClintock

Chairman Chairman
Subcommittee on Immigration
Integrity, Security, and Enforcement

cc: The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Ranking Member

The Honorable Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Immigration

Integrity, Security, and Enforcement

16
Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, R. X (2023).