“What the senator said is revolting”, embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas proclaimed, before being repelled by a comment from Senator Cruz. “Your failure to do your job is revolting.”
In case you missed it, Mayorkas has again appeared before the Senate unprepared or unable to answer basic questions about his job. A Mayorkas flim-flam has become an annual event before the Senate. Every year, the secretary seems like he is being called in for a performance review for a job he did not know he had.
Following whistleblower reports that Homeland Security had released murderers into the country’s interior, Cruz asked Mayorkas how many murderers Homeland Security has released into the U.S. Mayorkas did not know. Cruz asked how many migrants had died trying to get to the U.S. Mayorkas did not know. Cruz asked if illegal immigration has become a crisis. Mayorkas stonewalled.
The climax came when Mayorkas claimed he did not recognize the colored wristbands worn by trafficking victims at the southern border to indicate how much they owe the cartels. Cruz drilled down by asking Mayorkas how many migrant children had been sold into sex slavery during Mayorkas’s administration. “You are willing to let children be raped to follow political orders. This is a crisis. This is a disgrace, and you won’t even admit it is at a crisis”, Cruz excoriated Mayorkas. At this point, the obviously embarrassed secretary arrogantly spat back with his “revolting” comments.
These are basic questions, and it is the head of Homeland Security’s job to know the answers. If a warden did not know how many of his prisoners had broken out of prison, he would be fired in short order. If a high school principal did not know how many of his students failed to graduate this year, the school board with dispatch with him immediately. Why, then, is this acceptable from one of the nation’s top law enforcement officials?
Last Sunday, Mayorkas botched what could have been an image-rehabilitation interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes. The roughly 15-minute interview is a microcosm of everything wrong with our immigration system.
Sharon Alfonsi asked Mayorkas how the United States was benefiting from his inability to handle our immigration backlog. Bizarrely, the secretary did not remotely address Alfonsi’s question. Instead, he prattled on about our broken immigration system and how asylum-seekers enjoy pizza.
Toward the end of the piece, 60 Minutes interviewed an alien who spoke zero English and threatened to cross the border illegally if she was not given an appointment to make her asylum claim. Mayorkas obviously knows his lax immigration policies are attracting this behavior. Is this really the type of person Americans want brought into our country? This migrant does not speak English. She is not even in the U.S. yet, and she is already making threats and demands. Is there any tangible benefit from bringing her into the country? No comment from Mayorkas appeared in the interview about what he would do about this woman’s demands or if her asylum claim should be rejected given her blatant disregard for American law.
Republicans in Congress have been talking about impeaching Mayorkas for months. Unfortunately, while an article of impeachment could probably pass the House, it would be unlikely to get the two-thirds majority required in the Senate.
Mayorkas could also be disciplined by a censure resolution, which would only require simple majorities in both houses. However, unlike impeachment, censure has no legal ramifications. A censure is like the government version of a tweet that says, “Stop that!”
This does not mean Congress is out of options, however. Congress could and should defund Secretary Mayorkas. Like a censure, defunding only requires a majority in both houses.
Conveniently, the House of Representatives recently reinstated the Holman Rule. Put plainly, the Holman rule allows Congress to say, “This guy is not getting a paycheck anymore”. Defunding Mayorkas would not formally kick him out of his job as impeachment would— but it would make it nearly impossible for him to continue since his direct deposit would stop.
Texas is the largest border state and sends one of the largest delegations to Congress. Even some Texas Democrats, like Rep. Henry Cuellar, will tell you that immigration is out of hand. Accordingly, Texas should take the lead on tough border security policy. If Congress wants to get serious about immigration, it should start by defunding Secretary Mayorkas.
Every Texan should be writing to their congressman and senators to tell them that you support defunding Secretary Mayorkas. If you do not know who your lawmakers are, you can find their contact information here.
This is a commentary published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.
