One thing U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley seems to enjoy — even more than bashing on the — is lambasting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In his latest charge at Mayorkas, Hawley on Wednesday to the border boss that demands that he answer specific questions and provide detailed information about missing children.Â
The issue stems from an inspector general’s report that revealed Mayorkas’ department may have lost track of more than 250,000 unaccompanied children and in some cases, failed to notify other agencies of their whereabouts.
“Not only did your agency lose track of these children, it didn’t even bother to tell anyone,†Hawley’s letter of Aug. 21 states. “That is unconscionable.â€
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This is just the latest episode of Hawley slamming Mayorkas’ performance as head of Homeland Security.
Last year, Hawley braced Mayorkas over a whistleblower’s claims that the Biden administration had diverted agents from child exploitation cases to handle non-law enforcement duties at the southern border.
Then in April, following a New York Times story which stated that at least 85,000 children were missing, Hawley called on the FBI to launch a full-scale effort to locate them.
But missing children is not the only issue over which Hawley and Mayorkas have sparred.
Earlier this year, Hawley took Mayorkas to task for the number of U.S. citizens, including one Missouri youth, who have been killed by immigrants in the country illegally.
And one of those issues has a local connection.
On Tuesday, Hawley sent a letter to the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County prosecuting attorney’s office which asks that the bond on a woman who has been charged with five felonies, not be reduced at an upcoming hearing.
Hawley writes that Endrina Bracho “was driving without a license, in the wrong lane, and 35 miles per hour over the speed limit, when she crashed head-on into a vehicle carrying 12-year-old Travis Wolfe,†Hawley said.
After spending several months on life support, Travis Wolfe died from his injuries on March 6.
After Wolfe died, the Post-Dispatch reported that Bracho, who is from Venezuela, was driving in the wrong lane on Dunn Road at 75 mph when her vehicle collided with a Jeep carrying the Wolfe family. The speed limit on that road is 40 mph.
Two children riding in Bracho’s van were seriously injured. A passenger in the Jeep, Travis J. Wolfe, 12, was taken to ºüÀêÊÓƵ Children’s Hospital, where he was placed on life support. He died March 6.
Currently, Bracho is being held on $500,000 cash-only bond after being arrested by the Hazelwood Police Department. A bond hearing is set for Sept. 12.
She has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, court records show.
In arguing against a bond reduction, Hawley writes: “The facts surrounding Travis’s death are evidence of Ms. Bracho’s systematic contempt for the law: her defiance of immigration law, driver licensing laws, and basic traffic laws all led to this horrific incident.â€Â Â
On top of those complaints about Mayorkas, Hawley was a strong supporter of a move led by Missouri’s other GOP U.S. senator, Eric Schmitt, to impeach Mayorkas on the grounds of incompetence and lying to Congress.
That move failed in April, with voting in the Senate falling mostly along party lines.