WASHINGTON – In November 2023, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) questioned Secretary Mayorkas on the Biden Administration’s use of immigration parole. In Fiscal Year 2023, there were over 800,000 immigrants paroled into the United States. Senator Graham asked Secretary Mayorkas if there was an individual analysis conducted for every person to determine whether each met at least one of the two criteria for parole, as required by law. Secretary Mayorkas replied that individual analysis was conducted on a case-by-case basis and that the Department “complied with the law.”

Yesterday, Senator Graham announced that according to DHS, Jose Antonio Ibarra, the man accused of murdering Laken Riley, was granted “parole due to detention capacity at the Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas.”

Senator Graham today made this statement on Secretary Mayorkas giving false testimony to Congress.

“In November 2023, I questioned Secretary Mayorkas about how the administration is using immigration parole. Under oath, he assured me that DHS complied with the law, and that they were conducting individual analysis and not granting blanket parole.

“Yesterday, when Congressman Dan Bishop asked Secretary Mayorkas why Jose Ibarra, the man accused of murdering Laken Riley, was paroled into the country, Secretary Mayorkas refused to answer and said he would need to review the file.

“Now we have concrete proof that Secretary Mayorkas’ testimony about the parole system is false.

“On the same day that Secretary Mayorkas refused to answer Congressman Bishop, I was able to answer that question with information provided by Secretary Mayorkas’ own agency.

“According to DHS, Jose Ibarra was paroled into the country because of lack of ‘detention capacity at the Central Processing Facility in El Paso, TX.’

“You cannot parole someone into the United States because there is a lack of space at a detention facility. This is a flagrant violation of the law. The statute requires parole to be granted only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian need or significant public benefit to the United States. In Ibarra’s case, there was no individual analysis. He did not have an urgent humanitarian need and he did not provide significant public benefit to the country.

“The abuse of the parole system is one of the main reasons Secretary Mayorkas was impeached by the House of Representatives. Now we know Secretary Mayorkas gave false testimony to Congress, which only strengthens the case against him.

“The trial for Secretary Mayorkas may go away, but the broken border is not going to go away. We are going to tell the American people until we run out of breath that the system in place is broken, it is leading to the death of innocent Americans like Laken Riley, and the person who created the problem is President Joe Biden.”

Click Here To Watch Graham’s Remarks This Morning

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WASHINGTON – Today, 43 Republican Senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) calling on the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty by holding a trial to consider the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Senators wrote, “Our brave men and women at Customs and Border Protection have worked tirelessly to make our nation safer, yet with 7.5 million encounters since President Biden took office, our southern border is a national security disaster. Encounters in fiscal year 2023 increased a startling 440% over fiscal year 2020.  The border crisis under Secretary Mayorkas has become a nightmare for the American people.”

They continued, “The House of Representatives has considered this evidence and impeached Secretary Mayorkas.  Our constitutional duty requires the Senate to hold a trial. In every previous congressional impeachment of the past 227 years, Congress has been faithful to the process set out by the framers… Never before has the Senate abandoned this duty, even when certain members believed the basis for impeachment was tenuous at best.”

The letter was led by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and also signed by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), and Todd Young (R-Indiana).

Full text of the letter is HERE. 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Katie Britt (R-Alabama) today sent a letter to Majority Leader U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Minority Leader U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) requesting a classified, all-member briefing on the increasing threats to the homeland from radical Islamic terror groups, including ISIS-K, an offshoot of ISIS that exists primarily in Afghanistan.

The Senators wrote, “As many experts have warned, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has created new threats and once again transformed the country into a safe haven and operational base for terrorist groups.  Our nation cannot afford to continue adhering to a policy of inaction towards these threats…ISIS-K’s recent attacks further highlight their ability to strike around the globe.  Their operations include a suicide bombing in Iran in January of 2024 and a massacre at a concert hall in Moscow in March.  Further, ISIS-K planned attacks against civilians in Germany and the Netherlands were also thwarted.  It is evident the potential and desire for strikes by ISIS-K around the globe, including against the United States, remains significant.”

“In light of this concern, we are requesting an all-member classified briefing on the rising threat of radical Islamic terror groups against the homeland and overseas targets, and an update on the Biden Administration’s over-the-horizon capabilities and strategy for Afghanistan no later than April 18th, 2024,” Graham and Britt concluded.

To read the full letter, click HERE.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced a Senate resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to open a formal investigation into the acts of sexual violence and sexual torture committed during and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The Senators also urged the international community to hold the perpetrators accountable.

A recent U.N. report found there are “reasonable grounds” that sexual violence and sexual torture occurred during and after the attack on Israel, leading the Senators to demand the UNSC formally open an investigation.

“I appreciate my colleagues for joining in this bipartisan effort,” said Senator Graham. “It is imperative that the U.N. firmly stand against sexual violence and sexual torture as a tool of war. In order to hold the perpetrators accountable, there must be an effort to preserve the facts and circumstances around Hamas’ brutal and barbaric sexual assault on Israeli women and children. This is a defining moment for the U.N. Start the investigation and start it now.”

“The horrific acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7^th were acts of pure evil and were another instance of persecutors using rape and sexual violence to subjugate the Jewish community,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Last year, I challenged the U.N. to denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization and its use of rape as a weapon of war. While the U.N. did lead a ‘fact-finding mission’ that corroborated these atrocities, it fell short of a true investigation. Therefore, I am joining Senators Graham, Blumenthal, Britt, Collins and Ernst to call on the U.S. to use its position on the Security Council to launch an official investigation into the sexual violence and torture of October 7^th. The international community must hold accountable the perpetrators of these crimes, and I will not rest until it does so.”

“The reprehensible, barbaric acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 have no place in our world and must be unequivocally and universally condemned,” said Senator Britt. “I was proud to recently lead a bipartisan resolution condemning Hamas for using sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon of war, and I now join my colleagues in calling on the U.N. to immediately open an investigation into these atrocities. As a mother, as a daughter, as a sister, and as an American, I will continue to speak out and stand firm against the pure evil that is Hamas.”

“Hamas' use of sexual violence as a tool of warfare during the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel must be condemned unequivocally,” said Senator Collins. “I urge my colleagues to join this bipartisan effort calling on the United Nations to investigate these atrocities. It is imperative that we unite against these barbaric acts to hold Hamas accountable, support survivors, and provide justice for victims.”

“The UN’s recent report clearly laid the ground work for a full investigation in how Hamas fighters used sexual violence during and after the attacks on October 7,” said Senator Blumenthal. “Such abhorrent, intolerable actions cannot be ignored. We owe it to the victims and survivors to use every tool at our disposal to fully investigate crimes of sexual violence and reveal to the world the true heinous nature of the terrorists that perpetrate them.”

“After the October 7 Iran-backed attack on Israel, the world could no longer deny the brutality of Hamas that took over 1,000 innocent lives, including more than 30 Americans,” said Senator Ernst. “Look no further for evidence of their inhumane cruelty than the fact that Hamas used rape as a weapon against Israelis and Jews. As a survivor of sexual assault myself, this is personal, and these war crimes cannot go unpunished. While the UN failed to immediately condemn these vile actions, we must ensure terrorists are fully investigated and held accountable.”

The Graham-Gillibrand-Britt-Collins-Blumenthal-Ernst resolution:

• Calls upon the United States to insist that the United Nations Security Council open an official investigation into the sexual violence and sexual torture committed during and after the attack on the State of Israel on October 7, 2023.
• Demands that the international community hold accountable those who perpetrated acts of sexual violence and sexual torture during and after that attack.

The resolution can be found HERE.

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