House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) said this week that “military-aged” Chinese nationals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army had been released into the U.S. by the Biden administration. 

Green made the comments during a Wednesday press conference announcing an investigation into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over “dereliction of duty” in regard to securing the southern border, which has seen record numbers of illegal crossings under President Joe Biden. 

“Secretary Mayorkas has put the national security of the United States at risk. Terrorists, suspected terrorists, and enemies of our nation have flooded across our borders,” Green said, before noting that there had been a “massive surge in Chinese nationals, many of whom are military-aged men, many with known ties to the PLA, ties to the CCP who have crossed our southern border and have just been released by Secretary Mayorkas into the United States.”

Green said that there were about 10,000 Chinese nationals who had been released into the U.S. so far this fiscal year. 

“We have no idea who these people are and it’s very likely, using Russia’s template of sending military personnel into Ukraine, China is doing the same in the United States,” Green said. 

Numbers released earlier this week show a massive number of migrants being detained from faraway countries, including Afghanistan and China. Border Patrol recorded just 450 encounters with migrants from China on the southern border in fiscal year 2021, and 2,176 in fiscal year 2022, but has so far encountered 9,854 in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023. 

During the press conference, Green also said that Mayorkas’ policies were to blame for the declining number of deportations even as illegal crossings increased. 

“These individuals typically possess no legitimate claim to asylum and under prior administrations – both Democrat and Republican – most would have been quickly deported. The difference now? Mayorkas and his policies,” he said. 

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Green said that emergency medical Medicaid spending “for illegal aliens more than doubled from FY20 to FY21, from around $3 billion to more than $7 billion.”

Republicans on the committee also pointed to the increasing fentanyl deaths in the U.S., some of which can be traced to drugs brought from Mexico, and the human trafficking taking place at the border. The committee also released a preliminary 55-page report on Mayorkas’ and Biden’s handling of the border. 

An estimated 1.5 million illegal migrant gotaways have been recorded since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Meanwhile, 415,000 total gotaways were reported for 2018, 2019, and 2020 under the Trump administration.

The Republican-led House on Wednesday voted against formally rebuking Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for playing up allegations of collusion between Russia and former President Donald Trump.

Twenty GOP lawmakers joined with a majority of Democrats in voting 225-196 in favor of tabling the resolution to censure and condemn Schiff, while seven members voted “present” and five did not cast a vote.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) brought forward the privileged resolution, meant to be fast-tracked for consideration, and referred it to the House Ethics Committee. The four-page resolution mostly accused Schiff of abusing his position and telling falsehoods about the Russia matter, but also mentioned issues related to the Ukraine-focused impeachment inquiry against Trump.

But a sticking point among GOP holdouts appeared to be a clause that said Schiff should be fined millions of dollars if the ethics panel found that he lied and abused sensitive information. The $16 million fine it listed represents about half the cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Schiff acted “unethically,” but the measure was not constitutional because it would violate the 8th and 27th Amendments. Luna sought to clarify that the financial penalty in the motion was a “suggested fine that can be paid with campaign funds, like any other fine levied by Ethics,” but that did not alleviate the concerns.

“Allowing a majority of Congress to take $16 million (92 years of pay) from any member of Congress is shortsighted,” Massie tweeted after the vote. “Can we not imagine a time when this precedent would be used against conservatives? Fortunately it failed.”

Republicans have long accused Schiff, who served as chairman of the committee for four years, of being a repeat liar, particularly because he insisted there was evidence of collusion. GOP frustration with Schiff led House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to kick him off the intelligence panel earlier in January after Republicans took over control of the House. Schiff is now running for the seat held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

“Today’s partisan and failed attempt to censure me is a badge of honor that I will wear proudly,” Schiff said in a tweet after the vote on Wednesday. “MAGA Republicans are going after me because I dared to hold Donald Trump accountable. These efforts to intimidate me will not succeed. I will always defend our democracy.”

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In a tweet that talked about dispelling any “confusion,” Luna said she would file a new measure to censure Schiff and send it to the House Ethics Committee. “See you next week Adam,” she said.

**Recommended fine

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 14, 2023

Massie indicated he would support the new resolution, as long as it addressed his concerns.

“Thank you for removing the part that several of us thought was unwise and/or unconstitutional,” he said in a tweet directed at Luna. “Many of us are looking forward to voting for your better version.”