House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy called on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign Tuesday afternoon after the speaker-elect led a GOP congressional delegation to tour the southern border.
“His actions have produced the greatest wave of illegal immigration in recorded history,” McCarthy said, issuing a seething indictment of the seemingly absent Homeland Security secretary engaged in a “dereliction of duty.”
According to an analysis of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data from the conservative Heritage Foundation, federal law enforcement has recorded more than 4 million apprehensions, “more than the previous four fiscal years combined.” October’s border arrests alone were the third highest in American history, with more than 230,000 arrests reported by CBP. Illicit substances continue to flood American communities nationwide after pouring through the open border. Cocaine seizures spiked 104 percent last month, and fentanyl seizures remained on the rise.
McCarthy, who was nominated by the Republican conference for speaker of the House last week, threatened the nation’s security chief with a House impeachment inquiry if he refuses to step down.
“He cannot and must not remain in that position,” McCarthy said. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action, and every failure [and] will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.”
This past September, McCarthy told The Federalist that House Republicans would not rule out impeaching Mayorkas if the GOP were to regain a majority, but they wouldn’t “start” with it.
Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, the vice chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, promptly released a statement celebrating McCarthy’s announcement.
“Leader McCarthy is right,” Jordan said. “Americans deserve accountability for the unprecedented crisis on the southwest border. Republicans will hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for his failure to enforce immigration law and secure the border through all means necessary.”
The GOP leader told Fox News Tuesday afternoon the trip came in response to Mayorkas’s comments on Capitol Hill last week declaring the border as “secure” despite the overwhelming surge in unchecked migration.
“We have lost operational control of our southern border, empowering drug cartels and human trafficking,” McCarthy said at the tour’s concluding press conference, railing against the administration’s proactive efforts to secure an open border by blocking additional security measures and undermining its own agents.
In October, emails surfaced exposing Mayorkas’ participation in a conscious lie when the DHS secretary condemned agents for “whipping” migrants coming over the border last year. Viral images of agents using horse reigns as a common crowd control measure to protect the horses and the bystanders were misinterpreted by Democrats and the corporate press as “whips” being used to beat Haitian migrants.
“Our nation saw horrifying images that do not reflect who we are. We know that those images painfully conjured up the worst elements of our nation’s ongoing battle against systemic racism,” Mayorkas said at the White House in September 2021.
However, the photographer who took the photo had explained prior to Mayorkas taking the podium that no whips were used.
“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” Paul Ratje told KTSM. “He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”
When pressed at the White House on the photographer’s contradictory testimony, Mayorkas dismissed the clarification.
“The horses have long reins, and the image in the photograph that we all saw, and that horrified the nation, raised serious questions about what … occurred, and as I stated quite clearly, it conjured up images of what has occurred in the past,” Mayorkas said.
Emails published by Fox News last month, however, showed Mayorkas was personally presented with the photographer’s clarification prior to standing in front of reporters.
“[Mayorkas] has blocked [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and border patrol from enforcing our laws while vilifying them at the same time,” McCarthy said Tuesday afternoon, going on to highlight agents committing suicide under low morale. According to the Daily Caller, four have committed suicide just within the last two weeks. McCarthy said “a total of 14 this year” have taken their own lives.
