Hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee - Allegations of Special Access and Political Influence at the Department of Homeland Security

Hearing

On March 24, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General released a report detailing
allegations against Deputy Secretary Mayorkas that related to his time as Director of USCIS and his
oversight of the EB-5 program.

The IG's office conducted more than 50 interviews, reviewed more than 40,000 phone records, and
obtained more than one million documents and emails. This investigation was unprecedented in that
there were more than a dozen whistleblowers that came forward to the Inspector General's office. The
findings are troubling as the IG made some very serious charges against Mr. Mayorkas.

Chief among them was he used his position to influence outcomes in select cases for the benefit of
politically-connected and powerful individuals.

In general, these allegations fall into four categories:

Special Access: "Their allegations were unequivocal: Mr. Mayorkas gave special access and treatment
to certain individuals and parties."

Political Favoritism: "We received complaints from USCIS employees that the application for a
politically connected regional center, Gulf Coast Funds Management, received extraordinary treatment
as a result of Mr. Mayorkas's intervention." Additionally, "USCIS staff…understood that these
applicants were prominent or politically connected."

Created or went around the established process and career staff decisions: "Mr. Mayorkas was in
contact, outside of the normal adjudication process, either directly or through senior DHS leadership,
with a number of stakeholders having business before USCIS…..According to the employees, but for
Mayorkas's actions, the staff would have decided these matters differently."

Misplaced Priorities: "Mr. Mayorkas's focus on a few applicants and stakeholders was particularly
troubling to employees given the massive scope of his responsibilities as Director of USCIS."

Two days after the release of the report, this Committee held a hearing and heard testimony directly
from DHS IG John Roth.

From the report and again in his testimony before us, the IG found, Mr. Mayorkas appeared to play
favorites with Democratic political operatives and inserted himself improperly in ways that influenced
the outcome of cases.

These are very serious allegations and ones that, if true, should not be ignored. Although the IG did not
allege that these acts were criminal in nature, they without a doubt raise questions about the Deputy
Secretary's judgement.

This was not the first time that the Inspector General's office reviewed allegations of impropriety at
USCIS. In a separate report, the IG found that in late 2009 the former USCIS Chief Counsel also placed
pressure on career staff to reverse the outcome for a petition filed by a university that the Chief Counsel
was connected to. In April of 2010, Mr. Mayorkas himself put out a policy memo to USCIS employees
that stated:

"Each USCIS employee has the duty to act impartially in the performance of his or her official duties.
Any occurrence of actual or perceived preferential treatment, treating similarly situated applicants
differently, can call into question our ability to implement our nation's immigration laws fairly,
honestly, and properly."

In examining the IG's findings, it seems that Mr. Mayorkas repeatedly violated his own policy through
his actions regarding certain EB-5 cases as USCIS Director.

As Chairman of the Committee and a former federal prosecutor in the Public Integrity Section of the
Department of Justice, I take the oversight responsibilities of this Committee very seriously.

After looking at the IG's report and hearing the IG's testimony last month, I felt obligated to examine
the accusations made in the report in greater detail. Committee staff has analyzed over 500 pages of
documents from the IG and DHS. The Committee expects to receive additional documentation from the
department in the coming days.

Since our first hearing, and after reviewing the report and associated documents, I have more questions:
1) Did Mr. Mayorkas knowingly or unknowingly violate USCIS policy to grant special access and
treatment to applicants who were prominent and politically connected and overrule USCIS career
staff decisions in these cases?

2) Does the lack of judgement shown by Mr. Mayorkas in the IG report raise doubts about his ability to
fulfill the responsibilities of Deputy Secretary? Specifically, DHS's morale is ranked the lowest of
any large federal agency. Mr. Mayorkas is charged with fixing this morale problem yet the morale of
certain USCIS staff deteriorated under his watch.

3) Why has Mr. Mayorkas not been held accountable for his actions? According to the 2010 policy that
Mr. Mayorkas signed, "failure to adhere to the standards or the guidance set forth in this
memorandum may subject the employee to disciplinary penalties up to and including removal from
employment." Political appointees at DHS should not be immune from accountability when
warranted.

We, as the people's representatives, deserve to hear the truth in these cases. However, there is no place
for presumed guilt before innocence. Mr. Mayorkas is allowed the opportunity to explain and defend his
actions as alleged in the IG Report. At the conclusion of our hearing on March 26, I stated that I looked
forward to giving Mr. Mayorkas the opportunity to respond - today is that opportunity.

At the heart of this case is the issue of trust and credibility. In order for government to function our
leaders must have the trust of the American people and those who work for them.

We can never forget that public office is a public trust. With that, I look forward to hearing from Mr.
Mayorkas.

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