Three Republican attorneys general urged Congress to hold Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for the crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border—including by impeaching him.
“The American people are watching. They know that our border was secure just a few years ago,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said in his written testimony for the House Homeland Security Committee’s first impeachment hearing against Mr. Mayorkas on Jan. 10.
“They see the devastation metastasizing in our communities from drugs and human trafficking.”
“The conclusion is clear: Secretary Mayorkas has violated his oath of office and the consequences have been dire. I urge this body to impeach.”
Mr. Knudsen was joined as a witness by the attorneys general of Oklahoma and Missouri, with each testifying to what they described as devastating effects of the Biden administration’s border policies on their states.
In Montana, Mr. Knudsen said, the most destructive consequence of those policies has been the proliferation of fentanyl and methamphetamine, which he noted had “exploded” under Mr. Mayorkas’s leadership.
“The numbers aren’t finalized for 2023, but I can tell you as of the third quarter of 2023, Montana is on track to have seized nearly one-half million dosage units of fentanyl and another 200 pounds of meth,” he said. “And the cartels trafficked 100 percent of that fentanyl and meth across the southern border.”
Those drugs, he added, have been disproportionately killing the state’s Native American population, for which the opioid overdose rate is twice as high as that of the state’s white population.
Living ‘Under Constant Threat’
“The people of Oklahoma don’t deserve to live under constant threat of criminal foreign nationals,” Mr. Drummond said.“We don’t deserve to have our communities flooded with illegal drugs that were smuggled across an unsecured border. And we don’t deserve to have our loved ones ripped away by those same drugs.”
Earlier this week, Mr. Mayorkas rebutted claims that his leadership was to blame for the flood of illegal aliens surging across the southern border. Instead, he pointed to global migration patterns and the nation’s “broken” immigration system as the source of the problem.
“Our immigration system is outdated and broken and has been in need of reform for literally decades. On this, everyone agrees,” he said at a Jan. 8 news conference in Eagle Pass, Texas.
He also attributed the problem to a lack of funding from Congress, where Republicans and Democrats have been locked in negotiations concerning the president’s request for additional aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
The request also included funding for border security. Republicans have said any additional funding for the Ukraine war must also include meaningful border policy reforms.
House Democrats have echoed Mr. Mayorkas’s argument.
During the hearing, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, accused House Republicans of wielding border security as a political weapon.
‘Point of No Return’
However, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, in his testimony, pushed back on claims that Mr. Mayorkas lacks sufficient resources to adequately manage the border.“Our lawsuit proves he already has funding. He just refuses to use it,” he said, referencing the suit he filed against the administration for its refusal to continue building the border wall with funds explicitly appropriated for its construction.
“We have reached a point of no return,” Mr. Bailey added.
“We’re doing everything we can at the state level to rectify this appalling situation, but Congress has a role to play for accountability. While we battle in the nation’s courts, Congress must use every tool at its disposal to obtain accountability for the American people.”
Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said House Republicans intend to do just that.
“On this committee, we carried out our investigation of Secretary Mayorkas, and I sit here to tell you today we’re going to impeach him. He’s going to be impeached, and he should be,” the congressman said.
President Joe Biden, he noted, has the authority to appoint Cabinet members to execute his policy visions. But he added that those officials are also responsible for advising the president against policies they know will harm the nation.
“It’s not about money,” Mr. McCaul added. “We spent less money in 2019 than we did in ’23—a lot less through DHS—and we had the border under control. It’s policy that has changed. And who is driving that policy? Secretary Mayorkas. So, who shall be impeached? Quite rightfully so, Secretary Mayorkas.”
