All 18 Republicans on a key House committee support the impeachment and removal of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, an announcement that directly followed a hearing Thursday in which two mothers laid the blame for the deaths of their daughters at the feet of President Joe Biden’s appointee.
“In my humble opinion, Mr. Mayorkas’ border policy is partially responsible for my daughter’s death,” Arizona mother Josephine Dunn told the House Homeland Security Committee. “His wide-open border policy allows massive quantities of poisonous fentanyl into our country.”
Dunn’s daughter Ashley died in 2021 at age 26 after a drug dealer sold her a pill containing fentanyl.
“We’re losing our children,” Dunn told the committee. “We’re losing a generation of children. We’re at war. We need our military at the border. That’s what we need. We don’t need more Border Patrol. We need our military at the border stopping the drugs.”
Mother Tammy Nobles, who also testified, recounted the tragedy of losing her child in 2022.
Less than a week after Kayla Hamilton turned 20, her mother testified, she was violently killed in her Maryland home by a MS-13 gang member who was an illegal alien. The gang member strangled Hamilton with a phone-charging cord and sexually assaulted her.
“Kayla fought for her life that day, and in the end she lost to an individual who wasn’t even supposed to be allowed in the country,” Nobles said. “For me, this is not a political issue. This is a safety issue for everyone living in the United States.”
The two mothers testified at the second hearing advancing impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas, which follow the committee’s monthslong investigation of how Biden’s homeland security secretary has responded to the crisis of illegal immigration at the southern border.
After Thursday’s hearing concluded, all 18 GOP committee members issued a statement calling for Mayorkas’ impeachment by the House.
“After our nearly yearlong investigation and subsequent impeachment proceedings, and having exhausted all other options to hold him accountable, it is unmistakably clear to all of us—and to the American people—that Congress must exercise its constitutional duty and impeach Secretary Mayorkas,” the Republican lawmakers said in the public statement.
The 18 Republicans include Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee; Michael McCaul, Tony Gonzales, Morgan Luttrell, and August Pfluger of Texas; Michael Guest and Mike Ezell of Mississippi; Clay Higgins of Louisiana; Dan Bishop of North Carolina; Carlos Gimenez and Laurel Lee of Florida; Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, and Anthony D’Esposito of New York; Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia; Dale Strong of Alabama; Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma; and Eli Crane of Arizona.
“The secretary [Mayorkas] has consistently, willfully, and systemically refused to follow the laws passed by Congress, abused his authority, and breached the trust of Congress and the American people on numerous occasions,” the 18 lawmakers said. “The result of his failure to fulfill his oath of office has been a border crisis that is unprecedented in American history—a crisis that has cost the lives of thousands of Secretary Mayorkas’ fellow Americans.”
Green, the committee chairman, last year launched a five-phase investigation into Mayorkas, in which 10 public hearings examined these topics:
- “DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Dereliction of Duty.”
- “DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Has Emboldened Cartels, Criminals, and America’s Enemies.”
- “The Devastating Human Costs of the DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Open-Borders Policies.”
- “The Historic Dollar Costs of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Open-Borders Policies.”
- “The Massive Waste and Abuse Enabled by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.”
If the House votes to impeach Mayorkas, it is unlikely that two-thirds of the Senate would vote to remove him, given Democrats’ control of the upper chamber.
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