Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) grilled Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of giving illegal aliens a “Disney fast pass” into the United States, a reference to Disney World’s program that allows attendees to skip lines at its theme park.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Gaetz questioned Mayorkas about the agency’s “CBP One” app, which entices foreign nationals in northern Mexico to schedule appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border for release into the U.S. interior.
The migrant mobile app, as Breitbart News detailed, has released more than 100,000 foreign nationals into the U.S. interior in just five months.
Gaetz called the app akin to a “Disney fast pass into the country” where those released are “never to be subject to actual removal” and merely placed into removal proceedings with little follow-up or enforcement from DHS.
“You’ve taken this app and you’ve digitized illegal immigration and you’ve scaled it to the moon,” Gaetz said, asking Mayorkas if the app questions foreign nationals about their criminal history in their home country.
“The app doesn’t do any search of their criminal history in their home country, does it?” Gaetz asked, to which Mayorkas responded, “Congressman, I disagree with everything you’ve said.”
The rest of the exchange went as follows:
GAETZ: Well, I’m sure. But just answer the question. Does the app that you’re out there promoting do any search of peoples’ criminal history in their home country?
MAYORKAS: Congressman, Customs and Border Protection screens and vets individuals whom they encounter–
GAETZ: Your app, it either has the functionality to test their criminal history in their home country or it doesn’t. By the way, if it did, you would have already told me.
Gaetz also mentioned that DHS was forced to shut down the migrant mobile app in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, for a period of time in June because members of the Mexican drug cartels were found to be extorting foreign nationals seeking appointments at the border through the app.
The issue was widely reported by Reuters, the Associated Press, Border Report, as well as Breitbart News. Mayorkas, though, claimed the extortion tactic never occurred.
“You’ve had to shut down [the app] in Nuevo Laredo because the cartels were standing outside extorting people. Isn’t that right?” Gaetz asked.
“Congressman, that is false,” Mayorkas responded.
Since Mayorkas began overseeing DHS, the agency has released an estimated two million border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities. When Gaetz asked Mayorkas to divulge how many of those released into the U.S. interior had been subsequently deported, the secretary could not give a numerical figure.
“Individuals who are released are placed into immigration enforcement proceedings under the law where they can make their claim for relief. If their claim for relief is not satisfied, they are subject to removal from the United States,” Mayorkas said.
Most recently, as Breitbart News reported, court-ordered figures from DHS show few are ever being placed into deportation proceedings, much less deported, after their release into the U.S. interior.
Of a few thousand included in the court-ordered sample size of those released into the U.S. interior by the Biden administration, fewer than 20 percent have been issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) in federal immigration court — the first step in deportation proceedings.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.