House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) says Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has left Congress “with no other option than to proceed with articles of impeachment” over his handling of illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border.
“We cannot allow this man to remain in office any longer,” Green said. “The time for accountability is now.”
During a mark-up hearing on Tuesday, Green detailed the reasons the committee has chosen to pursue impeachment against Mayorkas, who has overseen the largest scale of illegal immigration to the U.S. in American history.
“Today is a grave day. We have not approached this day or this process lightly. Secretary Mayorkas’s actions have forced our hand,” Green said:
We cannot allow this border crisis to continue. We cannot allow fentanyl to flood across our border or criminals to waltz in undeterred. And we cannot allow a cabinet secretary with no regard for the separation of powers or the rule of law, to remain in office. That is why today, we present this Committee with these articles of impeachment against Secretary Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas. [Emphasis added]
In particular, Green noted that DHS resources allocated to the southern border have remained largely the same from the prior Trump administration to President Joe Biden’s administration — thus, cannot be blamed for the arrival of nearly seven million illegal aliens from January 2021 through December 2023.
Instead, Green said, Mayorkas has carried out extensive policy changes for Biden that have dismantled enforcement mechanisms and imposed a European-style border with checkpoints for illegal aliens before they make their way into the U.S. interior.
“The resources didn’t change from the last Administration to Secretary Mayorkas,” Green said. “What has changed, as one federal judge pointed out, is that this Secretary has turned enforcement of the law on its head, turning our border into a giant red carpet. That’s from a federal judge, the judiciary branch, another branch that Secretary Mayorkas has disregarded.”
According to Green, Mayorkas was given several opportunities to appear before the committee and defend his record as head of DHS but chose not to do so. Instead, at the last minute, Green said Mayorkas responded to the committee with written testimony.
“Under past presidents of both parties, we didn’t have border crises of this scale, and what challenges we did have were temporary and resolved utilizing the tools currently available,” Green said:
We gave Secretary Mayorkas three opportunities since August, including for these proceedings, to defend his record in person. Each time, he delayed and evaded. We even offered to accept written testimony from him in connection with our last hearing—a request he took us up on at 4:48am this morning. This 11th hour response demonstrates the lack of seriousness with which Secretary Mayorkas views his responsibilities. [Emphasis added]
The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas accuse him of high crimes and misdemeanors, including breach of the public’s trust as well as refusal to comply with federal immigration law.
“The Secure Fence Act of 2006 requires that the Secretary of Homeland Security ‘maintain operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States,'” the articles of impeachment read.
“In his willful admittance of border crossers, terrorists, human traffickers, drugs, and other contraband, Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas has failed to maintain operational control of the border, thereby violating the Secure Fence Act of 2006,” they continue.
As head of DHS, Mayorkas has helped Biden set multiple records at the border.
Since January 2021, for example, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that about 6.2 million illegal aliens have been welcomed into the U.S. interior. In Fiscal Year 2023, alone, nearly a million illegal alien “got-aways” are known to have successfully crossed the border.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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