WASHINGTON, DC — Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green subpoenaed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a move Congressman August Pfluger encouraged and collaborated on. The subpoena requests information on national security threats at America’s borders. The subpoena comes after more than a year of the department’s stonewalling and failure to satisfy the Committee’s document and information requests related to the record number of inadmissible aliens on the Terrorist Screening Data Set (TSDS) who are crossing the Southwest border between ports of entry.

"As Chairman of the Counterterrorism Subcommittee, I will not stand for the Biden Administration covering up the facts about terrorists crossing our southern border," said Congressman August Pfluger. "Today, the House Committee on Homeland Security issued an official congressional subpoena against Secretary Mayorkas demanding DHS release the facts surrounding the national security risks presented by aliens with terrorist ties illegally crossing the border. It is extremely concerning that this Committee is forced to resort to these measures to receive the answers we need to address the crucial imminent threats facing this country.

“President Biden and his now-impeached DHS secretary’s refusal to secure our borders or comply with our laws is putting our country in rapidly growing peril,” Chairman Green said. “The Biden administration has utterly failed to safeguard the American people by allowing millions of otherwise inadmissible aliens into the country with limited screening and vetting, including tens of thousands of special interest aliens. 

Read the full cover letter, the schedule, and the subpoena.

Background: 

The Biden administration’s open-borders policies represent an unprecedented threat to America’s national security. Over 370 individuals on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended attempting to illegally cross our Southwest border between ports of entry since the beginning of FY2021—an increase of more than 3,000 percent compared to all of FY2017-2020. Individuals from more than 160 countries have been apprehended crossing the border illegally, including aliens from countries on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The Committee has documented how DHS’ processes for screening and vetting of inadmissible border crossers are wholly inadequate.  

Homeland Republicans continue to conduct rigorous oversight:

Today’s subpoena follows a shocking report by NBC News that more than 400 inadmissible aliens “have come to the U.S. from Central Asia and elsewhere as ‘subjects of concern’ because they were brought by an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network.” According to the report, roughly 150 of these individuals have since been arrested after entering the country, but 50 remain unaccounted for. 

This month, Chairman Green sent Secretary Mayorkas and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray a letter demanding documents and a briefing pertaining to several individuals with connections to ISIS who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia this month. All of these individuals reportedly entered the United States through the Southwest border, but Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) limited ability to fully vet and screen those crossing led to all of them being released into the United States. Reportedly, at least one even made use of the unlawful CBP One mass-parole program. 

In May 2024, Chairman Green, Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC), Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX), and Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Clay Higgins (R-LA) sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas, Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Lloyd Austin, and FBI Director Wray, requesting information on an attempted breach of Marine Corps Base Quantico. The attempted breach was reportedly conducted by two Jordanian nationals alleged to be in the United States unlawfully. 

In April 2024, Chairmen Green, Pfluger, and Higgins sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas requesting information and documents from CBP pertaining to the processing and detention procedures for inadmissible aliens on the terrorist watchlist, also known as the Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS). In January 2024, ICE arrested an illegal alien in Minnesota who belonged to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab, who had lived freely in the United States for a year after being released.

In September 2023, Chairmen Green, Bishop, Higgins, and Pfluger demanded answers from DHS and the FBI following reports that Uzbek nationals were smuggled to the Southwest border by an individual with ties to ISIS. 

Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens testified to the Committee during a May 2023 transcribed interview that he was “absolutely” concerned that the high flow of illegal aliens through the Del Rio Sector was impeding agents’ ability to reduce the number of gotaways. The Committee is concerned this could allow suspected terrorists the opportunity to cross our borders undetected.