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Republicans and Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee clashed at the primary hearing to look at whether or not DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ought to be impeached over his dealing with of the crisis at the southern border – and as state attorneys common defined how the crisis had harmed their states.
The committee held the primary impeachment hearing at a time when the migrant crisis is setting data at the border, with over 302,000 migrant encounters in December, and a present launch fee of over 85%.
Republicans and Democrats have been deeply cut up over what has triggered the crisis and people divisions had been on show as Republicans pointed at the Biden administration, and Democrats accused Republicans of not working with them to repair the crisis.
HOUSE HOMELAND DEMOCRATS BACK MAYORKAS, SLAM GOP ‘SHAM’ AHEAD OF IMPEACHMENT HEARING
“Secretary Mayorkas has brazenly refused to enforce the laws passed by Congress and has enacted policies that knowingly make our country less safe,” Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., mentioned. “What we’re seeing here is a willful violation of the oath of office taken by Secretary Mayorkas.”
Chairman Mark Green speaks through the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc by way of Getty Images)
Republicans have blamed an expanded catch-and-release, a rollback of Trump-era insurance policies, an “abuse” of humanitarian parole to launch migrants into the inside, and the ending of border wall building as components in what has inspired a large and historic migrant crisis. Green additionally mentioned his committee’s investigation has uncovered 100 cases the place Mayorkas has misled the general public.
DHS and Democrats have rejected that narrative, pointing to what it says are a big quantity of latest removals and returns and saying that authorities want extra funding and a complete immigration reform package deal – together with a $14 billion supplemental funding request presently being negotiated in Congress.
Ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., accused Republicans of throwing “political red meat” to their base in an effort to maintain marketing campaign cash coming in throughout an election yr.
“It’s now campaign season, and Republicans recently rolled out their impeachment proceedings against the secretary like the pre-planned, pre-determined political stunt it is. This is not a legitimate impeachment,” he mentioned.
Thompson additionally defended Mayorkas’ conduct in workplace.
“The facts show Secretary Mayorkas is doing his job across all the department’s many critical homeland security missions, including border security and immigration enforcement. Despite what Republicans would have Americans believe, Secretary Mayorkas is enforcing immigration law,” he mentioned.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press convention at a U.S. Border Patrol station on Jan. 8, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Republicans invited three Republican attorneys common from the heartland to describe the impact the crisis had on their states. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen described an explosion of fentanyl pouring into the state, with authorities on monitor to have seized half one million dosage items in 2023, from over 6,000 in 2020.
The drug is produced primarily in Mexico utilizing Chinese precursors after which shipped throughout the southern land border. It could be deadly in tiny doses and is usually hidden in different medication so customers don’t know they’re ingesting fentanyl. Republicans have linked the fentanyl crisis to the border crisis.
MAYORKAS TELLS BORDER PATROL AGENTS THAT ‘ABOVE 85%’ OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED INTO US: SOURCES
Knudsen mentioned he believed the border had been largely secured underneath the Trump administration, however that work had been undone underneath the management of Mayorkas.
“Secretary Mayorkas is the architect of that destruction. The American people are watching. They know that our border was secured just a few years ago. They see the devastation metastasizing in our communities from drugs and human trafficking. The conclusion is clear, Secretary Mayorkas has violated his oath, and I urge this body to impeach,” he mentioned.
Rep. Bennie Thompson earlier than the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Secretary Mayorkas, Jan. 10, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond described the crime his state had seen, citing stats that the Oklahama Department of Corrections is housing greater than 500 unlawful immigrants convicted of violent crimes.
“Illegal immigration cost Oklahoma taxpayers more than $750 million each year with a minimal offset return,” he mentioned.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey mentioned the quantity of unlawful immigrants who’ve entered the U.S. since 2021 is bigger than the inhabitants of his state.
“These numbers are not an accident. There is only one reason eight million people illegally cross a sovereign nation’s border – because they know that they can get away with it,” he mentioned. “There has been an orchestrated lack of enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws. [Mayorkas] has failed to do that which is most fundamental to his mission. Protect our border.”
Frank Bowman, a legislation professor at the University of Missouri, referred to as as a witness by Democrats, was skeptical of the impeachment claims being made – warning that impeachment can’t be used for coverage disagreements.
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks whereas standing with Republican members of Congress, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
“Official conduct must meet a very high threshold of seriousness. It must also be of a type that corrupts and subverts political and governmental process, and it ought to be plainly wrong, regardless of legal,” he mentioned. “The most commonly encountered categories of impeachable conduct are official corruption, abuse of power, betrayal of the nation’s foreign policy interests, subversion of the Constitution. There is no serious allegation of which I’m aware that the secretary has done any of those things.”
Meanwhile, DHS issued a memo ripping into the impeachment effort, pointing to prior feedback from Republicans who say the brink for impeachment has not been met. It additionally argued that it has stopped extra fentanyl within the final two years than within the earlier 5 years mixed.
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“Members of Congress serious about addressing these challenges should oppose this baseless impeachment that is going nowhere and instead work with the Department to keep America safe by properly funding DHS’s vital missions and reforming our broken immigration laws,” the company mentioned.
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