Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri demanded answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently, questioning the government official about an app that the senator described as a “concierge service” for illegal immigrants looking to enter the country.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sec. Mayorkas fielded a series of questions from lawmakers about the border, including from Senator Hawley, as well as Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
“I’m going to quote from your own fact sheet,” the senator began.
“It allows, and I quote, ‘non-citizens without appropriate documents for admission to schedule an appointment to come to the border.’ They can now go on their phone and schedule a time to come to the border and then be admitted, and you identified seven separate border points of entry where they could come,” Hawley explained.
“It’s like a concierge service for illegal immigrants. … You didn’t think the Border crisis was bad enough that now we’re going to have an app that allows illegals to schedule their appointments and come and be admitted to this country?” the senator asked.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas denied the characterization of the application, called Login.Gov, which is described on its website as “a secure sign in service used by the public to sign in to participating government agencies.”
Mayorkas proceeded to tell Hawley that the process to which he believes the senator is referring to is a special, “urgent humanitarian” exception that directs immigrants to the points of entry for emergency relief.
“There is a process for individuals who claim an exception to the Title 42 expulsion authority because of an acute medical condition — an urgent humanitarian reason. So, instead of them coming in between the ports of entry to claim that urgent medical condition, that extraordinarily acute humanitarian cause,” the secretary explained, “we allow a limited number to arrive at our ports of entry and seek the emergency relief that they need,” Mayorkas added.
Senator Hawley then claimed that the app was “changed” on January 5, 2023, making it available to illegal immigrants, saying “you don’t have to be a lawyer to use it, you don’t have to be a member of a non-governmental organization, anybody can download the app and use it on their phone, and for the first time you allowed them to schedule appointments,” Hawley said.
In another viral clip, the Missouri Republican accused the government body of providing a type of “Tickermaster for illegal immigrants,” rather than “building a wall.”
The DHS secretary claimed that the senator and his news source were “mistaken.”
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