On February 16, GOP members of Congress asked House Democrats for permission to hold a hearing about a decision to release a suspected Islamist terrorist who in November swam the Rio Grande into Texas.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, penned the request to subcommittee Chair Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), in part on grounds that “There is no known case in which a foreign national who pinged on a terror watch list was simply released on his own recognizance.”
“The facts in the case strongly suggest that the Biden Administration failed to follow appropriate protocols with respect to suspected terrorists.”
Eight GOP lawmakers on the subcommittee signed the letter.
But it appears as though House Democrats are not as curious about this unusual matter. An aide in the congressman’s office said they’ve heard nothing.
“They’re ignoring us.”
Two of my own emailed requests to Rep. Lee’s spokesperson went unanswered.
The silent treatment should come as no surprise in this era of sharp partisanship, and the GOP co-signatories probably understood this most of all when they bothered to send the letter.
But they had to send it anyway because the case at the root of this partisan kerfluffle actually is too serious for stupid swordsmanship. This one deserves a real hearing, perhaps a DHS Office of Inspector General investigation, and legacy media inquiry into the objectively non-partisan homeland security matter that this is.
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Read the rest in The Federalist.