[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 59 (Monday, April 8, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2632-S2634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Mayorkas Impeachment

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, as we all know, 2 months ago, the House 
of Representatives impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro 
Mayorkas, who has led the Department of Homeland Security since the 
beginning of the Biden administration.
  For 3 years, Secretary Mayorkas has overseen the record-breaking 
crisis at the southern border. During that time, Customs and Border 
Protection have logged more than 7.4 million migrant encounters--more 
than two previous administrations combined--and that was over a period 
of 12 years. In 3 years, the Biden administration has accomplished what 
took 12 years for the Obama and Trump administrations.
  Law enforcement's focused response on migrant crossings has caused 
security missions, including drug interdiction, to take a hit. Staffing 
shortages

[[Page S2633]]

have led the Agency to temporarily close international bridges and 
ports, which have had a severe and negative impact on Texas border 
communities. And cities across the country, including those located 
thousands of miles from the border, are being crushed by the weight of 
caring for migrants.
  Well, that is hardly a positive reflection on Secretary Mayorkas's 
tenure as DHS Secretary. Throughout the Secretary's tenure, rather than 
acknowledge the reality and double down on efforts to deal with it, he 
essentially tried to gloss over it or ignore it. The American people 
have watched as he has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the border 
crisis, using watered-down language like it is a ``challenge'' or 
``situation.'' They have disputed his claims that the border is secure 
as they saw footage of migrants walking virtually unimpeded across the 
border and filling shelters to capacity and beyond.
  The American people have raised their eyebrows as he tried to blame 
Congress for the crisis, even though there are no new laws in effect or 
no fewer laws in effect than there were during the Trump 
administration, certainly nothing that Congress has done or did not do 
which has prompted the dramatic spike in illegal immigration.
  The truth is, Secretary Mayorkas is bad at his job. That is not news 
to anyone. But incompetence, by itself, is not an impeachable offense. 
We have had a number of inept Cabinet Secretaries throughout our 
country's history who ended their career without the stain of 
impeachment.
  Well, despite what some of our Democratic colleagues have claimed, 
Secretary Mayorkas was not impeached because he is unpopular or just 
because he is incompetent. He was impeached for two serious offenses, 
in my opinion, the first of which is his willful and systematic refusal 
to enforce our immigration laws. Secretary Mayorkas has consistently 
defied the laws that Congress has passed and which have been signed 
into law by the President of the United States. He has defied the law 
and the will of Congress by ignoring detention mandates.
  Before the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyer said the words ``shall 
detain'' are permissive; it really means ``may.'' Earlier this year, he 
told Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, TX, that the current release 
rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally was above 85 
percent. So you had a 15-percent chance of not being detained even if 
you were caught. Apparently, he is proud of that.
  Secretary Mayorkas has made catch-and-release the de facto policy of 
the U.S. Government, which is in direct contravention of our 
immigration laws. And we can't ignore the Secretary's unprecedented 
abuse of a process known as parole. Parole was designed to grant 
temporary entry to foreign nationals in rare and dire circumstances, 
such as someone experiencing a medical emergency at a port of entry or 
donating a kidney or being a witness in a trial. It was never 
designed to be used categorically or more than on a case-by-case basis.

  Congress has made clear that parole is intended for urgent 
circumstances and should be only granted in extraordinary individual 
cases. But the Secretary violated that law, too, and has used parole to 
wave broad classes of migrants into the United States.
  In less than 2 years, the Biden administration has used this case-by-
case authority to grant parole for more than 1.6 million migrants. That 
is in clear and blatant violation of the law, but that is OK with 
Secretary Mayorkas, apparently.
  The Secretary's failures, though, extend far beyond policy decisions. 
As I noted, he was impeached for two offenses, the second of which is 
breaching the public trust. The American people have watched as 
Secretary Mayorkas went on cable news programs or testified under oath 
before congressional committees repeatedly proclaiming that the border 
was secure. It was clearly a lie. It doesn't take an immigration policy 
expert to see that his claim has no basis in reality.
  Day after day, the American people have seen footage that shows how 
insecure America's southern border is. From the roughly 15,000 migrants 
who set up camp in Del Rio, TX, a few years ago to the hundreds of 
migrants who rushed Texas National Guard troops in El Paso last month, 
there has been no shortage of evidence about our insecure border.
  It is not just the misleading and false statements on cable news 
networks. On more than one occasion, Secretary Mayorkas lied under oath 
to Congress. He told Members of Congress that the border was secure 
when, clearly, it was anything but.
  The United States will be dealing with the consequences of this 
crisis for years, maybe even decades. And Secretary Mayorkas must be 
held accountable. The House of Representatives was completely correct 
to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, and now the Senate has a duty under the 
Constitution to hold a trial.
  Unfortunately, this has become a familiar process for a majority of 
our Senate colleagues. In both 2019 and 2021, the Democratic-controlled 
House impeached President Trump. At the time, my Republican colleagues 
and I criticized the motivations and process behind these impeachment 
inquiries, but those concerns didn't impact the process on the Senate 
floor.
  Despite our personal views about the House's actions, the Republican-
led Senate still carried out our constitutional duty to convene a Court 
of Impeachment. In both cases, Senators were sworn as jurors. We 
listened patiently to both sides as they presented their arguments. 
And, in the end, we had a fair ``guilty'' or ``not guilty'' vote.
  Prior to the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas, the House had sent 
impeachment articles to the Senate 21 times, and the Senate has held a 
full trial in all but four instances. In three cases, all of whom were 
Federal judges, the person resigned before the Senate could vote to 
convict or acquit. And in the final case, the impeached Senator was 
expelled from this Chamber before his trial.
  There has never ever in U.S. history been a case in which the Senate 
dismissed or tabled impeachment articles and moved on. Not once. 
Unfortunately, if reports in the news are correct, that is likely to 
change this week. The House is expected to transmit the Articles of 
Impeachment this Wednesday.
  Senators haven't received direct guidance, but according to the 
press, the majority leader is expected to take the completely 
unprecedented step of voting to table the impeachment articles and 
eliminate a trial entirely, in violation of the Constitution. As I 
said, this would be the first time in our Nation's history that the 
Senate failed to do its duty to consider evidence, hear witnesses, and 
allow Senators to vote guilty or not guilty.
  This would be a dangerous precedent to set. It would give future 
Senates carte blanche to dispense with serious charges against our 
Nation's most senior officials. What goes around comes around. If 
Secretary Mayorkas's impeachment articles are tabled, that will become 
the common practice in the future.
  Impeachment is one of the most solemn features in our democracy, and 
the majority leader must not brush these articles under the rug. I can 
understand why he may want to because the evidence that will be adduced 
at trial will be damning, both for Secretary Mayorkas and for the Biden 
administration's policies, which are essentially open-border policies. 
But at least House impeachment managers and Secretary Mayorkas's 
defense team deserve the opportunity to present their best case before 
the Senate. And the majority leader should not prevent that from 
happening.
  I would like to remind the majority leader of some words he spoke 
himself back in 2019. At that point, the balance of power in Washington 
was completely the inverse of what it is today. We had a Republican 
majority in the Senate, a Democratic majority in the House, and a 
Republican in the White House.
  After House Democrats impeached President Trump, the majority leader, 
the Senator from New York, came to the Senate floor to talk about the 
process he would like to see in a Republican-led Senate. He said:

       To my Republican colleagues: Our message is a simple one. 
     Democrats want a fair trial that examines the relevant facts 
     . . . The message from Leader McConnell, at the moment, is 
     that he has no intention of conducting a fair trial, no 
     intention of acting impartially, no intention of getting the 
     facts.

  But contrary to what Senator Schumer predicted, the Senate went on to

[[Page S2634]]

fulfill its constitutional responsibility to hold a trial. We spent 
more than 2 weeks hearing arguments from both sides--so the American 
people could judge for themselves--before holding a vote at the 
conclusion of the presentation of the evidence.
  So now I would like to echo the Senator's statement from a few years 
ago, but with a few small changes. To my Democratic colleagues, our 
message is a simple one: Republicans want a fair trial that examines 
the relevant facts.
  The message from Leader Schumer, at the moment, is that he has no 
intention of conducting a fair trial, no intention of acting 
impartially, and no intention of getting to the facts.
  It would be completely unprecedented and unjustified for the Senate 
to shirk its constitutional role as a Court of Impeachment. The House 
voted to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, and the Senate has a duty to hold 
a trial. The majority leader should perform his duty and should not 
impede or ignore that constitutional requirement.
  So I urge the majority leader to take his own advice from 2019 and to 
give the Senate an opportunity to hold a thorough and fair impeachment 
trial and let the chips fall where they may.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland.