WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the failing situation at the southern border, Mexican drug cartels, and fentanyl flooding into the United States.

• GRAHAM: “On your watch, Mr. Secretary, we have gone from the lowest illegal crossings in December 2020 to all-time highs with over 2 million last fiscal year. On your watch fentanyl is coming in at a pace we have never seen, more Americans are dying. On your watch, more terrorists on the watch list are coming than any time since we’ve been measuring these things. So I’m trying to get some appreciation from you that things are not going well. Your own Border Patrol chief said we don’t have operational control of the border and I don’t think it’s a definitional problem. I think he’s just being really honest with us… But we play around with the problems. We don’t address them.” https://youtu.be/ZyMGYEgNzD4?t=373

• GRAHAM: “[New York City] Mayor [Eric] Adams went to the border from New York. He’s not exactly a right-wing guy. He said this is a national crisis and he said basically it’s a disaster.  Everybody who goes has a different view – Democrats and Republicans. So what I would like to get from you is some recognition of where we are at and where we are going is going to get us to the Promised Land.” https://youtu.be/ZyMGYEgNzD4?t=425  

• GRAHAM: “We’re doing virtually nothing – when it comes to being under attack from the drug cartels  – that’s deterring their behavior.”  https://youtu.be/462gAMhe_WM?t=106

• GRAHAM: “…Drug cartels are making billions of dollars off bringing fentanyl into the country and human trafficking due to a broken immigration system. And quite frankly, we need to take the gloves off. They’re at war with us and we need to be at war with them.” https://youtu.be/462gAMhe_WM?t=387

Click here to watch Graham’s opening statement 

Click here to watch Graham’s questions