The United States' southern border with Mexico has been among the most-high-profile political and public policy challenges Joe Biden's White House has faced in the 168 days since Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate on February 2nd. Arguably no state in the nation has been impacted more by DHS's border enforcement policies than Texas.

LPO caught up with republican John Cornyn, the senior senator from Texas, on Tuesday afternoon to ask how he rates Mayorkas performance so far as DHS secretary.

"I think he's been a terrible disappointment," said Cornyn. "I didn't support his nomination because I was afraid that he'd simply refuse to enforce the laws that Congress has put on the books and that's proven to be true."

Given that DHS receives its funding from Congress, LPO asked Cornyn if the department's data regarding the supposed 'surge' or 'crisis' of mass migration at the border was reliable.

"We have independent access to data that we can use to verify what they're producing," said Cornyn. "For example, the Border Patrol issues monthly data on what's happening at the border. But any way you slice it or say it, it's pretty bad."

It's not just immigration policy. It's also illegal drugs. Ninety-three thousand Americans died last year from drug overdoses and most of those drugs come across the southwestern border. And the same law enforcement officers, namely the Border Patrol are responsible for interdicting those but they can't do it when they're busy changing diapers or feeding unaccompanied children.

The Democratic-controlled House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2022 Homeland Security funding bill on July 13th by a 33-24 vote. The bill funds the agency at $52.81 billion, an increase of nearly a billion dollars over the current fiscal year.