House Republicans blast Biden admin for allowing CBS to film at border facility but not Congress
Top GOP lawmakers slammed the 'clear double standard' in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}House Republicans are slamming the Biden administration for what they say is a "clear double standard" in how it treated lawmakers versus members of the media following their recent trip to the southern border.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., penned a scathing letter Thursday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the ongoing migrant crisis.
Mentioned in the letter was how the Johnson-led deligation in Eagle Pass, Texas last week was blocked from taking photos and videos of the border facility they toured. Except that same facility was featured in a report that aired on Sunday's installment of CBS' "Face the Nation."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks while standing with Republican members of Congress, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
"Even as CBP refused to allow Members of Congress to take photographs, House Republicans learned that CBP later gave CBS’s Face the Nation access to the same Eagle Pass facility. Face the Nation was also permitted to take photographs and record video while on the premises. This is a clear double standard designed to hide the truth of the crisis you have created at the southern border," the Republicans told Mayorkas.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The "Face the Nation" segment showed host Margaret Brennan touring the Eagle Pass facility, telling viewers about the food and care provided to illegal immigrants who are processed.
A source close to GOP leadership told Fox News Digital that the border patrol agents seen escorting Brennan in the report were the same ones who led the Republican lawmakers during their visit.
CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan was able to tour a border facility with cameras rolling. (Screenshot/CBS News)
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., who was among the lawmakers who toured the border facility last week, blasted the move.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We need to be able to show the American People what's happening on our border, and our government agencies shouldn't be precluding that. What are they hiding?" Perry told Fox News Digital. "The leftist media is given a ‘God bless you, take all pictures you want!’ [tour] of a facility that’s at a fraction of the capacity it was at just days before. When Congress arrives, it’s down to ‘manageable levels.’ Congress can’t show our constituents, but the media is given permission to go in and take pictures to show its viewers that there’s ‘nothing to see here.’ The enormity of this disaster knows no bounds."
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Speaker Johnson's deputy communications chief Raj Shah similarly told Fox News Digital, "They provided the media with access they refused members of Congress engaged in oversight. That’s a problem."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Neither DHS nor CBP immediately responded to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
GOP lawmakers sounded off at the Biden administration for blocking them from filming inside the border facility in Eagle Pass, Texas but allowing CBS News to film inside. (Screenshot/CBS News)
House Republicans continue to hold President Biden's feet to fire over his handling of the border, which has seen a record number of border crossings under his watch.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Impeachment hearings are underway for DHS Secretary Mayorkas, who has repeatedly downplayed the dire conditions at the border and refuses to call it a crisis.