House Democrats failed to show up to a field hearing held Wednesday morning in McAllen, Texas to discuss the dire situation at the southern border. As Congressman Mark Green put it, the Democrats have gone "AWOL" on their duties as Members of Congress.
.@RepMarkGreen: “The Democrats…decided to bail [on the border hearing]. Not even show up for work. This is where the duty is today and tomorrow. They’re absent from duty. In the Army, we called that AWOL. The Democrats will be AWOL.” pic.twitter.com/BtublYTvZ6
— GOP (@GOP) March 15, 2023
Originally, House Democrats were set to attend the hearing, but they inexplicably pulled out earlier this week:
Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee said they would attend Wednesday morning's in-person field hearing at the southern border -- even going so far as to book their travel and call a witness -- before pulling out of the hearing earlier this week, a GOP spokesperson tells Fox News. . .
"The half-baked argument that Homeland Democrats didn’t confirm their attendance is undermined by the very fact they invited a witness, who is confirmed on our first panel, and also made their travel arrangements," the spokesperson said. "This move from the Democrats only screams partisan games and shows that they are in fact the ones making this political."
The spokesperson accused the Democrats of having "chosen to bail on Chief Ortiz and the border communities who continue to be crushed by this crisis."
"Democrats can try to ignore this crisis all they want but that won’t change the devastating reality," they said.
Wednesday's hearing illustrated just how bad the border crisis has gotten under the Biden Administration. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified that the United States does not have "operational control" of our own southern border. Chief Ortiz's remarks were in direct contradiction to statements made by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this year.
Rep. Green: "Does DHS have operational control of our entire border?"
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) March 15, 2023
Border patrol chief Raul Ortiz: "No."
Green plays a clip of Mayorkas testifying that the U.S. does have control of the border.
"Do you think that Sec. Mayorkas is lying there?"
Ortiz does not answer. pic.twitter.com/tG9vPbdZc7
Border Patrol Chief Ortiz further testified that there have been 385,000 known gotaways so far in fiscal year 2023.
NEW: U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testifies there have already been approximately 385,000 known gotaways at the border since fiscal year 2023 began on Oct 1.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) March 15, 2023
That’s in addition to 600,000 in FY’22, and 390,000 in FY’21.
Approx 1.4 million gotaways since start of FY’21.
It's no surprise that just last week a federal judge called the southern border a "meaningless line in the sand."
Congressional Democrats should be ashamed of their unwillingness to face the catastrophe at the border.