[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Mayorkas Impeachment
Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I rise today because we really are at a
very historic time for this Chamber. Soon, the House of Representatives
is expected to send over Articles of Impeachment against a Cabinet
officer for only the second time in our Nation's history. This is not
routine business; instead, this is a very serious moment.
On February 13, the House agreed to Articles of Impeachment against
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for
``willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law'' and ``breach of
public trust.''
This Chamber will soon have a constitutional duty to uphold. I firmly
believe that the U.S. Senate must conduct a full impeachment inquiry
trial for Secretary Mayorkas. Our Constitution gives the Senate the
responsibility and the duty to try all impeachments, and it requires a
vote of two-thirds of the Senate present before the Federal officer is
convicted. That is a pretty high standard for a constitutional process.
For every impeachment in our history, the Senate has held some form
of a trial unless the Federal officer has resigned prior to the trial.
This time, it should be no different.
Under President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, there have been more
than 9.2 million illegal crossings along our country's southern border
or, to put it another way, the average monthly encounters have
increased 400 percent almost under the Biden-Mayorkas DHS.
The record illegal crossings this past February of 189,922 marked the
seventh consecutive month of the highest number of encounters that
these months have ever seen. On top of this, there have been 36
straight months with higher encounters at the southern border than any
month under the Trump administration. I mean, these numbers are just
shocking.
Still, and I have spoken on this before, it is just amazing to me
that the President and Secretary Mayorkas haven't tried to change this
at all.
Unfortunately, these statistics have become a regular occurrence
under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas, and he bears the
responsibility for the worst border crisis of our Nation's history.
Let me be clear. As I said earlier, this crisis did not happen by
accident. We have seen the Biden-Mayorkas DHS fail to uphold the law
and secure our borders starting on day one of this administration. This
broad and willful effort by the Biden administration to open our
borders began by ending successful Trump-era policies that brought all
those numbers down, like contracts to build the border wall, the
``Remain in Mexico'' policy--also known as Migrant Protection Protocols
or MPP--and safe third country agreements.
Again, the numbers don't lie, and they certainly do not provide the
administration with any cover, unlike the cover the administration
gives daily by turning their back to the cartels that are making
billions of dollars from human smuggling and drug trafficking
operations as long as this crisis continues.
Furthermore, we have seen Secretary Mayorkas abuse the parole
process, expanding the program more than any other prior
administration, which has led to more than 3 million immigrants coming
into our country who would otherwise have been inadmissible. Parole is
supposed to be granted on a one-by-one, case-by-case basis, but under
Secretary Mayorkas's leadership, DHS has created categorical parole
programs to give entry to migrants from many South American and
Caribbean countries with minimal vetting.
As the crisis has developed throughout President Biden's 3 years in
office, nearly half of the migrants encountered on our southern border
are coming from countries outside of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and
El Salvador. The immigration crisis on our southern border is now more
multifaceted than ever. Why is that? Because it has been allowed to
keep fomenting. The open border policies from the Biden-Mayorkas DHS
have allowed all of this to happen. We truly have no idea who is
entering our country illegally.
We have apprehended 336 individuals on the Terror Watchlist who have
illegally crossed our southern border during this administration, but
these are just the individuals we know of. To put this into
perspective, only 14 terror suspects were apprehended between the ports
of entry during the Trump administration--14 over 4 years; 336 in this
administration.
Not knowing who is in our country is a national security crisis, and
at a time of heightened national security, this is a chance we should
not be willing to take.
We have also seen the Biden-Mayorkas DHS abuse the asylum process,
expanding eligibility to admit a record number of asylum seekers, which
has led to creating a decade-long delay and backlog in our immigration
courts. This ensures that anyone who enters our country and passes the
very low screening standard will be here for years without any fear of
deportation.
This policy allowed the alleged killer of Laken Riley--a nursing
student in Georgia who was brutally and senselessly murdered--to enter
and remain in this country. Even though he was apprehended by our law
enforcement on at least one occasion, he still was here. This will ever
serve as a reminder that Secretary Mayorkas's catch-and-release
policies have allowed the catastrophe at our southern border to impact
every single community.
When our already-overwhelmed Border Patrol agents are faced with
thousands of encounters per day of migrants claiming asylum, we know
that some border crossers are able to slip through. These are the
people who don't want to be caught, and they are the individuals we
need to worry about the most. But don't just take my word for it. In a
recent interview, Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens referred to the
situation at the southern border as a ``national security threat'' and
that the 140,000 known ``got-aways'' are what is keeping--he says
``keeping me up at night.'' This is something that all of us should be
concerned about and the ripple effect that this causes in communities
far away from our southern border.
Additionally, the drugs flowing across our border are responsible for
fueling the addiction epidemic that has devastated communities across
this country, particularly in my home State of West Virginia. In West
Virginia alone, it is estimated that during the year 2023, 1,327
residents died at the hands of illegal drugs. That is the highest per
capita of any other State.
At the national level, the numbers are just startling. According to
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agents seized an alltime high of
27,293 pounds of fentanyl coming across the southern border in fiscal
year 2023. That amount of fentanyl is enough to kill nearly 6 million
people. However, what is even more troubling is that CBP reported that
Federal officials are estimating they were only able to seize between 5
and 10 percent of all the fentanyl that has been smuggled through the
southern border. With a Border Patrol that has been stretched
unfathomably thin with very little support from this administration,
there is no telling the amount of drugs that are getting through
undetected.
Regarding the matter that will soon be before the Senate, the
impeachment articles against Secretary Mayorkas make serious
allegations and detail the crisis we have all seen unfolding for more
than 3 years. It is unconscionable for Senator Schumer to dismiss these
charges without allowing the Senate to hear the evidence. Doing so
would deny this body from upholding our constitutional duty to hear a
case and decide whether or not Secretary Mayorkas should be convicted
or acquitted.
The decision to take up these Articles of Impeachment lies with
Senator Schumer and the Senate Democrats. They must do the right thing
and conduct a full trial.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.