(Headline USA) House Republicans said the Biden administration is requiring them to get privacy release waivers from illegal immigrants accused of terrorism before the Department of Homeland Security will give them information about the threats.
Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee said in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week that the agency’s new policy “requiring members of Congress to obtain signed privacy release waivers from criminal non-U.S. citizens, including those illegally in the United States,” is nonsensical and counterproductive, according to Fox News.
“Requiring Congress to get permission from accused terrorists and criminals, who are not U.S. citizens, as a prerequisite to receiving information on homeland security threats is both unprecedented and absurd,” they wrote.
The representatives cited two recent incidents, the first was an alleged ISIS plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush, and the second was an alleged July 4 mass shooting planned by two illegal immigrants.
Republicans were unable to get timely information about either threat because of the DHS’s waiver requirement, the letter stated.
“It is unconscionable that DHS would implement or maintain any policy or practice to directly or indirectly inhibit Congress’s ability to conduct timely, highly relevant oversight that may require legislative action,” Reps. John Katko, R-N.Y., August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Mayra Flores, R-Texas, wrote.
The waiver policy is apparently a recent change, since DHS briefed the committee on another suspected terrorist just a few weeks ago, and no privacy waiver was then needed.
“There are clear homeland security implications when non-U.S. citizens enter our country illegally and plot violent crime or terrorist activities against Americans,” the lawmakers said in their letter.
“We have serious concerns surrounding how these individuals entered into the United States, as well as how long they were permitted to reside in the country while planning their attacks.”
