Congress will return this week from its Fourth of July break with just three weeks until its monthlong August recess, and Republicans plan to dig deeper into the border crisis while juggling appropriations bills.
The House will return to Washington on Tuesday, a day after the Senate.
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The House Homeland Security Committee will jump right into business, marking up the Department of Homeland Security Border Support Services Contracts Review Act, which would require the DHS undersecretary of management to create a report that examines the role of contractors working on the southern border.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) introduced the bill less than a week ago. The legislation comes two years after the Biden administration awarded two noncompete immigrant housing contracts to Endeavors for more than $617 million through dealings that Republicans have questioned as unethical.
The Department of Health and Human Services also signed another deal with Endeavors that may be worth $2.1 billion to house migrant children even though fewer children are arriving at the border. The unaccompanied minors contract with Endeavors was not open for bids.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) has pushed to investigate how DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has carried out his duties.
The committee's Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement will hold a Wednesday afternoon hearing on how Mexican drug cartels are involved in the fentanyl manufacturing and smuggling business.
“With the help of the Chinese Community Party, they have smuggled an unprecedented amount of fentanyl, taken a record number of American lives, brought in billion-dollar profits, and have torn families apart,” Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee Chairman Clay Higgins (R-LA) said. “Secretary Mayorkas’s blatant disregard for the security and sanctity of the American people has wounded our great nation deeply. This subcommittee will ensure that we hold Mayorkas accountable for his dereliction of duty.”
Ninety percent of the fentanyl that U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized in all of fiscal 2021 and 2022 was found in vehicles or on pedestrians attempting to pass through land, air, and sea ports of entry, according to CBP data. The remaining 10% of fentanyl was found at Border Patrol's highway checkpoints inside the United States.
On Wednesday afternoon, Green will speak about border security legislation at a conservative think tank event a few blocks from the Capitol. Heritage Foundation Executive Vice President Derrick Morgan will host Green for a discussion on how to advance in the Senate the House-passed Secure the Border Act. Green will also talk about moving forward in his investigation of Mayorkas for dereliction of duty.
Mayorkas will speak Thursday morning at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials annual summit in New York.
House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology will bring in Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell Thursday morning to testify about the future of the agency.
FEMA has been under the GOP's watch lately for doling out hundreds of millions of government dollars to nonprofit organizations and sanctuary cities that assist illegal immigrants once they have been arrested at the border and released into the U.S.
The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement will hold an afternoon hearing on the "consequences of criminal aliens on U.S. communities." Witnesses include a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official; an Orange County, California, District Attorney's Office representative; and Donald Rosenberg, the founder of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime.
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Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) over the weekend debuted a 1,000-foot barrier of buoys in the Rio Grande, which the state believes will prevent migrants from swimming across the river in that area.
A kayak tour company that is based out of Eagle Pass, Texas, sued Abbott over the buoys on the basis that he "will be unable to conduct tours and canoe and kayak sessions in Eagle Pass because of the installation of the buoys" and will sustain "imminent and irreparable harm."