Alejandro Mayorkas

The notion that we in law enforcement have sought to intentionally allow individuals to cross the border illegally for the purpose of voting is preposterous, and everyone should condemn that rhetoric.

We need individuals, elected officials, people who have the platform to really debunk this false information.

There is no facts underlying these assertions. They are extremely damaging.

We need Congress to act swiftly to fund what should be a nonpartisan, apolitical phenomenon, and that is providing relief to all individuals with respect to the impacts of these extreme weather events.

The situation is grave. It requires solutions.

I have said now repeatedly it is a crisis.

Individuals who qualify for visas significantly contribute to the well-being and advancement of this country and that is quite evident especially in the economy arena.

We need those funds to increase to enable local communities to protect and guard themselves.

We continue to support the bipartisan legislation that a group of Senators worked on for months.

In fact, election security is one of our priorities.

I believe that it is State and local election officials that monitor the eligibility of individuals.

The more detention beds that we are funded for, the more individuals that we would be able to detain.

We need additional Office of Field Operations personnel to man our ports of entry.

The safety and security of the American people is our highest priority.

With the authorities and the funding that we have, it is as secure as it can be.

Chair Murray, I am not tracking this discrete issue. I will pay close attention to it, and then report to you.

This is a transformative piece of legislation that is really going to enhance the cybersecurity of our country.

Chair Murray, we continue to believe that the resources and the legislative changes that were contained in the Bipartisan Legislation are greatly needed by our Department and would really advance our mission.

Our hearts break. I know all our hearts break for the family of Miss Riley.

To fund us insufficiently is really going to handicap our ability to realize the full benefits of this transformative legislation.

But I do believe that Senator Murkowski is correct that we need to fund the Coast Guard at a greater level than, historically, has been the case.

Chair Murray, I remember very well when you and I visited a Coast Guard facility in your jurisdiction when I served as a Deputy Secretary.

I would welcome the opportunity to work with you to increase the Coast Guard's budget quite significantly.

The Bipartisan Border Bill would have been transformative in advancing the security of our border.