OPINION:
What will Congress do about Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas? Instead of protecting the nation’s borders, Mr. Mayorkas has served as little more than a travel agent for those crossing into the country illegally, ensuring they have a nice stay — hopefully to vote Democratic one day.
Customs and Border Protection says it has encountered more than 8.2 million illegal alien border-crossers since President Biden took office in January 2021, a tally that doesn’t include nearly 2 million more thought to have evaded apprehension while sneaking into the country.
As Fox News’ Bill Melugin reminded followers in a Dec. 6 post on X: “Former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who served under President Barack Obama, once said that 1,000 border crossings in a day is a ‘bad day,’ ‘overwhelms the system,’ and that 4,000 in a day is a ‘crisis.’ The Biden administration just had 12,000-plus migrant encounters yesterday.”
If 4,000 a day represents a crisis, and it surely does, triple that number now is an unmitigated disaster.
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee is not happy about it.
“I think very clearly, Secretary Mayorkas has chosen to totally disregard the laws passed by Congress,” said Rep. Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, in an interview with “The Daily Signal Podcast” that aired in September.
Asked at the time whether Congress would take steps to impeach Mr. Mayorkas, Mr. Green said that he would “continue to hold the cards” to his chest.
In June, Mr. Green opened a five-part investigation of what he called the “Biden-Mayorkas border crisis” that examined the Homeland Security Department chief’s dereliction of duty, how the border crisis has facilitated the illegal activities of drug cartels, the human and financial costs of the crisis, and suspected fraud at DHS.
House and Senate committees have grilled Mr. Mayorkas at least three times since then, raising the question of what more there is to say about the matter.
“It’s long past time for border security, not border management,” Mr. Green said in a statement last week. “Homeland Republicans will hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for this dereliction of duty.”
If so, it’s time for Mr. Green to show his cards. The House voted in November to refer articles of impeachment against Mr. Mayorkas to Mr. Green’s committee.
The resolution cites Article IV of the Constitution, in which the federal government guarantees to protect each state “against Invasion.” If anything, the actions of Mr. Mayorkas have facilitated the invasion.
The Biden administration will keep getting away with its cynical political strategy at the border so long as officials never have to worry about being held to account. Swiftly moving the impeachment process along would either prod Mr. Mayorkas to change his ways or serve as a warning to the next DHS chief that the American people want secure borders.
House Republicans ought to put formal proceedings against Mr. Mayorkas at the top of their New Year’s resolution list.
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