Josh Hawley's attempt to corner Mayorkas over DHS official's anti-Semitic posts backfires
October 31, 2023
During a heated back-and-forth during the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this Tuesday for the annual “Threats to the Homeland” hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questioned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about an asylum official within his department over antisemitic posts she shared to social media.
Hawley cited numerous posts to X where Nejwa Ali, an officer with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, wrote “F–k Israel” and seemingly praised the Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel by the Islamic terror group Hamas.
"Is this typical of people who work at DHS?" Hawley asked Mayorkas, who fired back at the Senator, telling him that his line of questioning was "despicable" since it suggested that Ali's views were rampant throughout the agency.
"Have you fired her?" Hawley asked.
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"That individual has been placed in administrative leave," Mayorkas replied.
"So she's not been fired?" Hawley shot back, to which Mayorkas replied that Ali was hired in 2019 during former President Donald Trump's administration.
Mayorkas was later given time to respond to Hawley's accusations, and pointed out that he is the son of a Holocaust survivor.
"Perhaps [Hawley] does not know that I'm the child of a Holocaust survivor," Mayorkas said. "Perhaps he does not know that my mother lost almost all of her family at the hands of the Nazis. I find his adversarial tone to be entirely misplaced. I find it to be disrespectful of me."
Watch the video below or at this link.