Lauren Moye, FISM News
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas repeated earlier claims that white supremacy along with domestic terrorism provide the greatest threat to U.S. security during testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. Florida Congressman Greg Staube pressed Mayorkas, leading to a heated exchange between the two.
“How many cases involving white supremacists and domestic terrorists have you referred to DOJ for prosecution?” Steube asked during Thursday’s session.
Instead of providing relevant information, Mayorkas responded that the congressman had made “profoundly inaccurate” statements. Yet in the exchange that followed, Mayorkas repeatedly stumbled over his words in an attempt to distract the Florida representative from his line of questioning.
It didn’t work. Steube continued to ask for the “simple” numbers to back up the secretary’s claims. He said, “You just clarified — domestic terrorism is a threat to the homeland, number one threat — and I’m asking you how many referrals from Homeland Security have you made to DOJ for white supremacy or domestic terrorism?”
At one point, Mayorkas responded, “Congressman, I will provide you with that information subsequent to this hearing. I do not have that statistic. I will provide the data to you.”
This response failed to satisfy Steube, who then said, “I’m asking you to name one case.”
When Mayorkas still failed to respond, the lawmaker stated, “You can’t name one case yet according to a new report from the US Department of Justice almost half of all the criminals prosecuted in federal courts in 2018 were aliens…but still domestic terrorism is the number one cause of your concerns.”
Earlier in the month, Mayorkas called domestic violent extremism “the greatest terrorism-related threat” the U.S. currently faces with the “most prominent threat” that of white supremacists.
The congressman later tweeted a clip of the exchange while pointing out the inconsistency that Mayorkas could not name any cases that fit the category of domestic terrorism.
Despite claiming domestic terrorism is the #1 threat to the homeland, @SecMayorkas can’t name a single case that he referred from DHS to DOJ for white supremacy or domestic terrorism. pic.twitter.com/9ZtYp1A3eo
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) April 28, 2022
This was the second time Mayorkas tangled with a Republican lawmaker during testimony this week. On Wednesday, Representative Michael Guest (Miss.) said the Secretary had “repeatedly lied” to the American people regarding border security. Mayorkas also doubled down on this point, testifying that the border was secure and that the Biden Administration was seeking ways to improve that security.