DHS Sec. Mayorkas nearly explodes over 'preposterous' questions from Sen. Kennedy about illegal migrants being counted in U.S. Census

Illegal immigration across the nation's southern border has surged to unprecedented heights under the lax enforcement and neglectful policies of President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, who is facing a potential impeachment trial in the Senate.

Sec. Mayorkas nearly lost his temper during a Senate hearing on Wednesday when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) confronted him with some uncomfortable truths about the political realities of the administration's porous border policies, according to the Daily Caller.

The senator accurately observed that illegal immigrants are counted in terms of congressional apportionment and electoral votes, but the secretary took issue with the "phrasing" of Kennedy's questions and rejected the "preposterous" idea that he and the administration would "allow" migrants to enter the country illegally.

Illegal migrants are counted for congressional apportionment and electoral votes

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in response to the question of whether "unauthorized immigrants" are "included in the resident population counts," the answer is, "Yes, all people (citizens and noncitizens) with a usual residence in the United States are included in the resident population for the census."

During Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Kennedy first referenced the southern border as an "open, bleeding wound" that is "chaotic by design" and "intentional" by the Biden administration, which has led to the impeachment articles against Sec. Mayorkas.

The senator then asked, "Isn’t it a fact, Mr. Secretary, that the number of illegal immigrants that you and the president allow into our country counts for congressional district reapportionment?"

"Senator, I’m not sure I understand your question, but I can surely share with you that I disagree with its phrasing," Mayorkas replied. Kennedy then repeated the same question, albeit in terms of each state's electoral count, but the secretary again offered no answer to the question.

When Sen. Kennedy pressed Sec. Mayorkas on whether he knew the answer to the question or not, Mayorkas tensely stated, "I don’t understand your question. The notion, senator, that we intend to allow illegal immigration is nothing short of preposterous. It is disrespectful to the extraordinarily hard work that we perform and far more importantly that the personnel in the Department of Homeland Security and across this administration perform to stem illegal immigration, build lawful, safe and orderly pathways and invest in a working system."

"It’s a fact and you know it and I know it"

After Sen. Kennedy observed that Sec. Mayorkas was wasting his limited time with a rambling response, as he has done before in prior hearings, the Daily Caller reported that Kennedy asserted of his questions about illegal migrants being included in the Census count, "It’s a fact and you know it and I know it that the more people you allow into our country illegally, the more people are counted for reapportionment."

"And the more people you allow into our country illegally, the more people are counted for allocating electoral votes," the senator continued. "Now maybe that’s a coincidence, but that’s fact. And you know that. And you’ve done nothing for four years. Nada. Zero."

Mayorkas had no real response other than to say that Kennedy's statements were "absolutely false," but as is made clear on the Census Bureau's website, the senator was "absolutely" correct that illegal migrants are counted in terms of congressional district apportionment and electoral votes.

Illegal immigration is out of control under Biden and Mayorkas

National Review took note of the exchange between Sen. Kennedy and Sec. Mayorkas, especially the line about how the southern border is "an open, bleeding wound" under the Biden administration, and highlighted the secretary's arrogant dodge of the factual questions posed by the senator.

The outlet pointed out that it has been estimated that around 8 to 10 million migrants have entered the country illegally since President Biden took office, as well as how more than 1.2 million of those illegal migrants have been hit with deportation orders but have not yet been removed. It also noted how the administration claims that at least 630,000 illegal migrants have already been deported while congressional estimates place that figure far lower at around just 142,580 deportations.

None of this looks good for Biden or Mayorkas, hence the impeachment efforts, not to mention the fact that, according to Gallup, immigration is now far and away named by voters as the "most important problem" the nation faces today, well above other problematic issues like the "government," the "economy," and "inflation," among myriad other things.