; an additional 285 miles were either under construction or in the pre-construction phase at the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021. Under Secretary Mayorkas’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security terminated contracts for additional border wall construction despite funds being appropriated by Congress for this purpose. His decision has left key portions of the southern border unsecure and cost American taxpayers billions of dollars. Secretary Mayorkas has willfully violated the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq. ) by releasing illegal aliens into the interior of the United States despite the plain language of the Act, which requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to detain inadmissible aliens arriving into the United States or aliens who are present in the United States without inspection while such aliens are processed under expedited removal or placed in removal proceedings. The Secretary of Homeland Security does not have the option of simply releasing those aliens into the interior of the United States. Secretary Mayorkas reinstituted the catch and release policies of the Obama Administration and has even released inadmissible aliens into the interior of the United States without issuing the aliens a Notice To Appear for immigration proceedings. The Secretary is relying on the aliens to report on their own volition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices to be placed into removal proceedings, a practice that violates the law and defies logic and common sense. Department of Homeland Security data shows that over 80 percent of these released illegal aliens are failing to report to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. This practice is intentionally done to keep illegal aliens off of the immigration court docket and prolong their time in the United States unlawfully. On May 13, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas admitted during testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that U.S. Customs and Border