Homeland Security Officer's Pro-Hamas Posts 'Celebrating Genocide' Lead to Senate Fireworks

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asylum officer's pro-Hamas social media posts were the subject of a heated exchange on Capitol Hill between Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The moment came during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's "Threats to the Homeland" hearing. 

Hawley and Mayorkas sparred over the current job status of Nejwa Ali, a Homeland Security officer, who has reportedly made repeated posts celebrating the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, using images of Hamas terrorists paragliding into Israel with the headline, "Free PALESTINE," according to The Daily Wire. 

The outlet reported DHS hired Ali, who had worked as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 2016 and 2017. 

Her job at DHS is to determine the status of who is allowed to come into the U.S., whether they be classified as a migrant or an asylum-seeker. 

Ali has posted extremist rhetoric on several social media platforms for years, according to The Daily Wire.

The outlet reported her rhetoric online escalated earlier this month when Hamas terrorists killed 1,400 Israelis, including 33 Americans. Ali reportedly wrote, "F*** Israel, the government, and its military. Are you ready for your downfall?" in an Instagram post following the barbaric terror attacks. 

According to Newsweek, she also wrote several posts referring to Israel as an "apartheid occupation." One of her posts reportedly read: "Israel and every Israel has to remember one thing: respect our existence or expect resistance. Simple. No apologies. #freepalestine."

She has been an employee of DHS since 2019 and is currently on administrative leave. Hawley wrote and sent a letter to Mayorkas earlier this month calling for Ali to be fired.  

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DHS Secretary Questioned About His Officer's Social Media Posts in Fiery Exchange

During the hearing, Hawley displayed one of Ali's social media posts featuring a  Hamas terrorist hang-glider and asked Mayorkas, "What is going on here? Is this typical of people who work at the DHS? This is an asylum and immigration officer who is posting these frankly pro-genocidal slogans and images on the day that Israelis are being slaughtered in their beds. What have you done about this?"

Mayorkas refused to directly answer Hawley, and angrily replied, "Your question to suggest that {the post} is emblematic of the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security is despicable."

Hawley quickly responded, "I'm sorry. This person works for the Department of Homeland Security. Have you fired her?" 

Mayorkas didn't answer the question, prompting Hawley to ask it again, "Did you fire her? Don't come to this hearing room when Israel has been invaded and Jewish students are barricaded in libraries in this country and cannot be escorted out because they are afraid for their lives. You have employees who are celebrating genocide and you are saying it's despicable for me to ask the question?"

"Has she been fired?" Hawley asked the DHS chief again. 

"So, that individual has been placed on administrative leave," Mayorkas said. 

"So she's not been fired? Why has she not been fired?" Hawley asked.

Mayorkas said the individual was hired in 2019 and could not speak to an ongoing personnel matter. 

Hawley then asked, "Why has this person not been fired? Your answer is you can't speak to it? This isn't sufficient to fire her?" 

"I am not in a position to speak to an ongoing personnel matter," Mayorkas responded. 

Hawley then asked Mayorkas, "As an asylum and immigration officer how many cases did she adjudicate?"

"Senator, I am not in a position to speak to an ongoing personnel matter," he said. 

Then Mayorkas refused to answer any more of Hawley's questions about the cases Ali handled, only responding, "Same answer."

Hawley followed by asking, "Had she admitted, contrary to law, individuals who should not be in this country or denied Jewish refugees, whose genocide she's advocating, asylum they deserve?"

Mayorkas then replied, "Same answer." 

"I can't believe that you would come to this committee knowing this. You know about this. I've written to you about it. You know all about it. And you come here unwilling to answer and suggest that it is wrong of me to ask you the question," Hawley said. "Quite frankly, Mr. Secretary, I think that your performance is despicable. And I think the fact that you are not willing to provide answers to this committee is absolutely atrocious." 

A DHS asylum & immigration officer posted support for the genocide of Israelis. She's still on DHS payroll.@SecMayorkas won't comment on whether that warrants her termination, or on her asylum decisions, which may have been influenced by her support for terrorists.@HawleyMO pic.twitter.com/F4tzGL0gbG

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) October 31, 2023

On The Border

As in many previous hearings before congressional committees, Mayorkas has refused to directly answer Republican lawmakers when questioned about the border. He has even argued the U.S. southern border is secure as millions of migrants have flooded into the country illegally.

As CBN News reported in July, when Mayorkas testified before the House Judiciary Committee, he faced tough questions over his handling of the southern border and the U.S. fentanyl crisis. 

"Our approach to managing the border securely and humanely, even within our fundamentally broken immigration system is working," he told lawmakers.

Following Tuesday's exchange in the Senate hearing with Hawley, the DHS secretary tried to blame the crisis at the U.S. southern border on an "unprecedented level of migration in the hemisphere."

That statement led Sen Mitt Romney (R-UT) to respond, "What led to that unprecedented level of immigration illegally into the country happens to coincide with your becoming Secretary of the Department that is responsible for border security and President Biden becoming president. The key factor that has changed here is your administration."