(RepublicanNews.org) – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has refused to shoulder the blame for record numbers of illegal aliens crossing the southern US border on his watch. Speaking with NBC host Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, Mayorkas agreed with Welker that the ongoing events at the border constitute a “crisis” but denied that he or his department should take responsibility for the problem, claiming that they were working within a “broken system” that could only be repaired by Congress.
Mayorkas’ position stands in stark contrast to those who recently tried, and initially failed, to impeach him. The first vote to impeach him lost, 215 to 216 after Blake Moore (R-Utah) switched his vote in favor to a vote against the impeachment. As a result of this switch, Republicans were able to bring up the resolution to impeach Mayorkas in the future, whereas a tied vote would prevent them from being able to do so.
On February 14th, a new vote was held in the House, and this time the impeachment was successful with a vote of 214 in favor and 213 against. The impeachment effort will now proceed to the Senate, where the odds are far less favorable. Democrats hold a majority in the Senate, and a two-thirds majority vote would be needed to remove Mayorkas from office.
President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas had previously spent years telling the public that the border was secure, despite the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants entering the US since Biden took office. Earlier in February, however, Biden broke that lockstep by admitting publicly that the border was not secure, although he blamed this on his predecessor Donald Trump.
Mayorkas declined to address this discrepancy. He also took the opportunity to dismiss special counsel Robert Hur’s report in which he explained that he would not seek to press charges against the president as he was an “elderly man with poor memory.” Mayorkas called the comments, which formed part of a 388-page report, “unnecessary and inaccurate,” and described Biden as “sharp and intensely probing.”
Mayorkas also pointed to the recently failed bill, presented to Congress by a bipartisan group of Senators, as a bill that contained the “tools and resources” to fix the system he says has been broken for 30 years. The bill featured financial support for the strengthening of the border but also included aid packages to Ukraine, Israel, and other allied countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
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