Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “intentionally” opened the US border to millions of migrants with full awareness that he was flouting federal immigration law and undermining national security, according to a former Border Patrol chief under the Harris-Biden administration.
Rodney Scott, who led the agency until August 2021, testified earlier this year that Mayorkas’ tenure — contrary to his public statements — has not been about “a policy debate,” according to previously unreported congressional interview transcripts reviewed by The Post.
“Policy is simply how law is enforced,” Scott told members and staff of the House Homeland Security Committee on Jan. 22. “The decisions made by Secretary Mayorkas have been informed and intentional decisions with the stated objective of finding ways to allow more aliens into the US.”
“I assert that Secretary Mayorkas and his subordinate political appointees have and continue to intentionally conspire to undermine the security of the American people, as well as the letter and the intent of congressionally enacted US law,” the ex-Border Patrol leader said in his opening statement.
A more than three-decade Border Patrol veteran, Scott added that Mayorkas’ moves as head of DHS have broken with all of his predecessors — and even with his actions while serving as deputy secretary under President Barack Obama.
“We very quickly learned that there were two Secretary Mayorkases,” he explained. “There was the one that would tell you basically what he knew you wanted to hear on the conference call, or even when he went out to musters and he would talk to agents about knowing there had to be consequences, knowing this is not sustainable.”
“And then there would be the policy decisions that come out where it would be totally different,” he went on. “I even had an email from him, by the way, telling me what a great job I was doing just before they told me that I was no longer to be in that position.”
“Over my career, through different presidential administrations, to include the Obama administration, we had secretaries that had different priorities and focuses,” added Scott, who served as Border Patrol chief under former President Trump as well, “but we were never told, to my knowledge, ‘Just don’t do your job.’”
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“In some of these cases, it’s just dumbfounding,” he recounted. “Like, why would you even try to say the border’s secure when every single piece of evidence, by any definition you could ever come up with, it doesn’t meet it?”
Since Mayorkas began his tenure as Homeland Security secretary in February 2021, illegal immigration reached record levels with more than 7 million illegal crossings, most of which occurred at the southern border, according to federal data.
Border Patrol recorded its highest known number of illegal crossings at the southern border following Mayorkas’ first few months in office, rounding out fiscal year 2021 with 1.7 million encounters, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
That record was surpassed the next year, with more than 2.2 million illegal crossings, per the report.
Mayorkas set up new programs to parole migrants into the country — both via commercial flights, that have brought in roughly 530,000 new arrivals, and the CBP One phone app, which has allowed an additional 813,000 migrants to schedule entry appointments.
“I can’t answer the ‘why.’ There’s got to be a political or some other agenda,” former Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner Mark Morgan said of Mayorkas’ changes to the parole programs. “I think that’s what he was told to say by his boss, and it’s more important for him to be the secretary than it is to have integrity.”
Morgan served in the DHS subagency during the Obama and Trump administrations — but said that unlike Obama DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, Mayorks “knows” immigration law thoroughly yet proceeds “unlawfully” with many policies.
Nowhere were Mayorkas’ evasions clearer than when he stayed silent while Border Patrol agents were falsely accused by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of whipping Haitian migrants crossing into Texas from Mexico, he added.
“He not only used his influence as the secretary of DHS but also the White House bully pulpit to perpetrate a lie to the very men and women that he oversees,” Morgan testified. “So to say that it had a devastating impact to the morale across the United States Border Patrol would be an understatement.
“It’s why [for] the first time in history — no other secretary, however many secretaries we’ve had — during a muster when he was down on the border, there was a Border Patrol agent that actually turned his back on the secretary,” he claimed. “That’s never happened in the history of the United States Border Patrol.”
As the DHS leader’s boss, Biden also made his intentions clear even as a presidential candidate, Morgan said.
“There was … an infamous Democratic presidential debate when the question was asked to all the candidates, ‘Would they support healthcare with respect to illegal aliens?’” recalled Morgan. “And the candidates, including then-candidate Biden, almost threw their arms out of their socket.“
Based on that pledge and a willingness to throw successful immigration policies such as “Remain in Mexico” to the side, Morgan said he predicted that there would be “catastrophic chaos and lawlessness on our border” if the Biden-Harris ticket won office and enacted such measures.
“In fact, the reason why I remember distinctly, I actually used the word ‘invasion,’” he said of his remarks during an October 2020 press gaggle at the southern border. “And I think that’s exactly what’s happened.”
In particular, Morgan faulted Mayorkas for his “blatant lie” to Congress about the border being “secure” and unlawfully implementing the humanitarian parole program that allows up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly into the US.
The approach has reduced the hard work of border enforcement “to really becoming a federal travel agency,” he jabbed.
“I think there are five elements that anyone wanting to come to the United States want: They want to be able to illegally enter the border and be released. They want to be free from deportation. They want to be able to work in the United States illegally, send money home, and bring family members here,” Morgan added.
“Under this administration, all five of those things are happening,” he told panel members and staff. “And you notice one thing that’s not in there? Citizenship. Right now, those coming to our country today, if you say, ‘We’re going to give you these five things but you’ll never have citizenship,’ they will say, ‘No problem.’”
“The Biden administration has unleashed what — I call them incentives or pull factors,” Morgan went on. “When illegal aliens who are detained, 97% of them are removed when they’re detained. And when they’re not detained, 82% end up remaining in the United States.”
“So this secretary knows — right? — that he’s misleading the American people, he releasing them in the United States knowing that 82% of them will never be released. And he also knows that they’re economic migrants,” he said.
“Untold numbers of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, aggravated felons, and gang members are entering our country every single day. Untold numbers of national security threats. It’s not a matter in and when a national security threat enters our country, they’re already here,” Morgan warned.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) told The Post that the testimonies prove the Harris-Biden administration under the leadership of Mayorkas “took what was a secure border and completely and intentionally dismantled it.”
“These accounts from former Commissioner Morgan and Chief Scott make abundantly clear that the Biden-Harris administration had its sights set on opening our borders even before taking office, despite being warned of the chaos and devastation that would result,” Green said.
“I thank them for their leadership and their courage in speaking the truth about this administration, and encourage other current and former DHS law enforcement officials to reach out to my Committee to tell their stories, as well.”
DHS didn’t immediately respond to The Post when reached for comment.