Homeland Security chief Mayorkas needs to be impeached and Congress must force a reckoning

Republican Governors Ron DeSantis, Doug Ducey and Greg Abbott have done Americans a great service by publicizing the humanitarian and national security crisis at our southern border. They have, by sending migrants to Democrat-run cities like New York and Chicago, and elitist encampments like Martha’s Vineyard, exposed the lawlessness and hypocrisy of liberal Democrats who are entirely in favor of open borders, until undocumented people land in their midst.

Soon, it will be Congress’ turn. If, as expected, Republicans take over control of the House of Representatives, GOP legislators must proceed with the articles of impeachment brought against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas that were first introduced August 10, 2021. 

That resolution, forwarded by Arizona Representative Andy Biggs and a group of like-minded GOP legislators, claimed that Mayorkas presided “over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, at the expense of the Constitution and the security of the United States.” Moreover, the complaint charges that “Secretary Mayorkas has willfully refused to maintain operational control of the border as required by the Secure Fence Act of 2006.” 

Section 2(a) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 defines “operational control” as “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.”

Mayorkas told Congress last May, under oath, that he had complied with that Act, though he had clearly failed to do so. As former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official Robert Law wrote at the time, “This definition was read out loud to Mayorkas before his response, making it all the more remarkable that he claims to have fulfilled that edict.” 

The Articles of Impeachment charge Mayorkas with High Crimes and Misdemeanors and claims that, “under his direction, the Department of Homeland Security is violating the law.”

Mayorkas should not be the GOP’s only target. Vice President Kamala Harris must be subpoenaed and quizzed about her efforts to cure the “root causes” of illegal immigration. Voters deserve to know…what has she done? Treasury Secretary Yellen must provide an accounting of how much illegal immigration is costing the United States. Labor Secretary Walsh must testify as to the impact that 2 million undocumented workers have on America’s minimum wage workers.

The Biden White House must be asked whether the administration leaned on the mayor of El Paso, Texas, just weeks before the midterm election, to not declare a state of emergency in his city even as it struggles to manage an enormous influx of migrants. 

They must also explain why Arizona Gov. Ducey was ordered to remove shipping containers placed along the border to plug the holes in Trump’s border wall. 

In short, Joe Biden’s White House must take responsibility for having allowed and ignored the breakdown of law and order at our southern border. This failure was purposeful, meant to build the ranks of Hispanic Democrat voters over time and create a permanent voter advantage for the president’s party.

Joe Biden reversed former President Trump’s policies that had reduced illegal immigration to manageable numbers. Only recently, as polling showed Democrats in trouble, did Biden reintroduce Trump’s “remain in Mexico” approach, using that sensible measure to send Venezuelans to await their asylum hearings on the other side of the border. 

Very soon, the influx of Venezuelans dropped. That’s what works: send people back to their native country, the message quickly spreads, and the numbers go down.

Today, thanks to Biden putting out the welcome sign, the numbers are horrifying. So horrifying that the administration will do anything to keep them hidden, including releasing them late on a Friday night, avoiding the news cycle.

That’s what happened last week, when Customs and Border Patrol reported that more than 277,000 migrants had crossed into the U.S. illegally in September – a record. During the fiscal year that ended on September 30, nearly 2.4 million people entered our nation, also a record. Some 70% of that total were single unaccompanied adults. Among them were 98 individuals on the terror watch list; prior to this current year, the five-year cumulative total of known or suspected terrorists crossing the border was 26. 

These figures do not include the nearly 600,000 so-called “got-aways” who are detected entering the country but not apprehended. Presumably it also does not include those who steal across the border but are not observed by law enforcement.

The figures also don’t include people who entered the country on more than one occasion, but were ejected. Including those repeat offenders, the total number of illegal crossings jumps to 2.8 million, a full one million more than the prior year.

During the past twelve months, some 856 people died trying to get into the U.S., many of them drowned swimming across the Rio Grande. Others died in sweltering trucks used by coyotes to sneak people through customs. Terrible, horrible deaths, of children and adults alike.

This is not right. Nothing is right. The White House has encouraged this flood of people, which has led to these tragic deaths. There is nothing “humane” about this.

Neither is it humane to burden communities with the care of tens of thousands of people released into the U.S. while supposedly awaiting hearings to determine their status. Even large cities like New York have claimed economic hardship from the arrival of modest numbers of undocumented people. Imagine the damage done to the smaller border communities where these people mostly land.

It is not just the economic cost, or course. There is also the heinous influx of fentanyl and other deadly drugs that migrants smuggle across the border, the billions of dollars that flow to the gangs transporting people into our country and trafficking sex victims.

Joe Biden’s White House is complicit in this collapse of our border and the enrichment of the cartels that benefit thereby.

Should Republicans capture control of the House on November 8, there must be a reckoning.

Published on Fox News