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FIRST ON FOX: Two Republican congressmen are co-leading a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding reports of the department releasing illegal immigrants into the U.S.
Republican Reps. Andy Harris of Maryland and Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee probed Mayorkas in a Monday letter with 17 of their colleagues about the thousands of illegal immigrants the department has released into the U.S.
“These alarming reports have rightly raised concerns among my constituents in Maryland. They know these illegal immigrants will place strains on their communities,” Harris told Fox News Digital in a Monday statement. “They deserve a full accounting of the numbers of illegal aliens released into their neighborhoods.”
BIDEN ADMIN PRESSED ON LEGAL AUTHORITY FOR RELEASING MIGRANTS INTO US AFTER DHS REVEALS NUMBERS
Representative Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland, speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021.
(Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We all deserve to know the costs associated with transporting them across the country at taxpayer expense,” Harris continued.
Fleischmann told Fox News Digital that since “taking office last year, President Biden and Congressional Democrats have gone out of their way to undermine security at the southern border and import untold thousands of migrants into our country and my home state of Tennessee.”
“There’s no doubt that the illegal aliens released into the U.S. will disappear into communities nationwide and create stress on our economy, local law enforcement agencies, and drain taxpayer-funded services — often at the disadvantage of minority-Americans,” Fleischmann said. “Our focus must be on restoring border security and ensuring all public services only go to legal Americans.”
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., is seen during a House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee markup of the FY2019 Homeland Security Appropriations bill in Rayburn Building on July 19, 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The lawmakers told Mayorkas in the letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital that an increasing number of the people they represent have “contacted our offices with concerns and outrage over recent reports of aliens being transported and released, at taxpayer expense, into the interior of the United States under the cover of darkness.”
“In light of these reports, we urgently request that you provide our offices a report, broken down by congressional district, detailing how many migrants who have entered the country illegally have been released into the United States, the cost to the federal government of transporting these migrants prior to release, and what security and health screening protocols were in place associated with any such release,” the letter reads.
The lawmakers also pointed out that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, “now is certainly not the time to inundate our local communities with migrants who crossed the border illegally.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“Moreover, at a time when our fragile economy is recovering and Americans are struggling with the effects of record levels of inflation, the influx of illegal labor into our local communities poses the very real threat of suppressing the wages of local American workers,” they wrote. “Nonetheless, it seems your department is intent on pursuing policies that will only exacerbate these issue.”
The letter comes after DHS revealed the number of migrants it released into the interior without a notice to check in with a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.
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Seventeen of the congressman’s colleagues signed the letter to Mayorkas, including GOP Reps. Ashley Hinson of Iowa and John Carter of Texas.
DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed reporting.
