Rep. Fitzgerald to Newsmax: Mayorkas ‘Evading’ Border Questions

Congressional Republicans must continue pressing an “evasive” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for answers on the migrant crisis at the border, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said Tuesday.

In an interview on Newsmax’s “National Report,” Fitzgerald defended the hard-charging pressure from GOP Texas Sen. John Cornyn on the Department of Homeland Security head during a Senate hearing Tuesday morning.

“Sen. Cornyn is doing exactly what members of the Judiciary Committee did … and that was to try and nail him down on exactly what was DHS doing in regards to some of these —not only apprehensions — but the got-aways,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald also praised the pressure on DHS for its “role in the amount of cocaine, marijuana and … ultimately fentanyl” that’s being smuggled into the United States.

“It’s frustrating,” Fitzgerald said, and Mayorkas is very good at evading any questions or giving you any type of serious answers.”

Fitzgerald also hailed the expected Wednesday start of a House Committee on Financial Services probe of the Silicon Valley Bank failure and “some of the other ancillary effects” on the banking industry.

“I had a couple of conversations this weekend and [bankers] are very concerned that there is kind of this contagious thought process that …[is] going to have an effect on them directly.”

Fitzgerald said, however, most of those banks with whom he’s spoken are “very stable.”

“They’re doing a good job … of making sure the [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation] insurance covers everybody,” he said, adding the banking situation is, however, “still very complex.”

“I think we’re still getting a kind of a fresh look from the financial services angle and kind of what is the next move,” he said.