With the threat of impeachment looming, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas spoke to a group of regional leaders to insist that his agency is working to secure the border — but that it needs support.
“Some have accused DHS of not enforcing our nation’s laws,” Mayorkas said. “This could not be further from the truth…we are doing everything we can within a broken system to incentivize non-citizens to use lawful pathways and to impose consequences on those who do not and to reduce irregular migration.”
From May to October, Homeland Security “removed or returned more non-citizens without a basis to remain in the United States than in any other five-month period in the last 10 years,” Mayorkas said, adding that more than half of all migrants encountered at America’s southwestern border have been “removed, returned or expelled.”
Mayorkas has been under heavy scrutiny by Republican members of Congress who seek to press the Biden administration on immigration issues in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. A Republican-led House committee plans to begin impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas this week.
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., chair of the Homeland Security Committee, said last week that the panel will hold its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday.
“For almost three years, the American people have demanded an end to the unprecedented crisis at the Southwest border, and they have also rightly called for Congress to hold accountable those responsible,” Green said in a statement. “That’s why the House Committee on Homeland Security led a comprehensive investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of this crisis.
“Our investigation made clear that this crisis finds its foundation in Secretary Mayorkas’ decision-making and refusal to enforce the laws passed by Congress, and that his failure to fulfill his oath of office demands accountability.”
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson led a delegation of Republicans to the Texas border for a speech decrying the White House’s handling of the border. He told The Associated Press that he will continue to pursue policies from an immigration bill passed by House Republicans — without a single Democratic vote — in May. That bill would build more of a border wall and impose more restrictions on asylum seekers. Biden promised to veto the bill should it come to his desk.
Immigration issues, the Homeland Security secretary said, are not solely an American problem. “What we are experiencing at the southern border is not unique to the southern border or to the United States — the entire hemisphere is gripped with a level of migration that is unprecedented in recent history; in fact, that is something that is gripping the entire world.”
Further, America’s “broken immigration system” — a term used by people from across the political spectrum to criticize border policies — is in “dire need of repair,” Mayorkas said — repairs that can only be set in place by Congressional lawmakers.
“Within the constraints of a broken immigration system, at a time when the world — and this hemisphere in particular — is experiencing an unprecedented level of displaced people, we are creating creative solutions to a significant problem that is not unique to us,” Mayorkas said.
Solving immigration problems at the southern border, he said, requires work from across the Americas. Recent conversations with Mexico have helped to reignite migration enforcement and staffing from Mexican authorities at border checkpoints.
“It is too early to tell whether the significant drop in the number of encounters we have experienced over the past week is a function of the holiday season, or whether it is a function of the fact that the Mexican authorities have resumed their enforcement operations — and it very well may be a combination of both,” Mayorkas said. “It is too early to tell, but we’re watching it very carefully.”