Homeland Chief Defends Handling of Border ‘Surge’ to GOP Critics

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, under fire from Republicans about the Biden administration’s immigration policies, acknowledged a “surge” of migrants while defending his department’s management of it.

Mayorkas testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday to make the administration’s case for $52 billion in discretionary spending on cybersecurity, disaster response, and other priorities in DHS’s fiscal 2022 budget.

Republicans on the panel repeatedly turned to border security, grilling Mayorkas on rising numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This record is an unmitigated disaster,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, also citing a decreasing number of U.S. ...