Mayorkas: More border chaos as the Senate dismisses impeachment

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Photo Credit: Reuters

Americans, especially those living along the southern border communities, are bracing up for more border chaos after the U.S. Senate practically endorsed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to continue in office with unprecedented migrant caravans at the border. 

The U.S. southern border has effectively become a den of human smuggling, with a daily incidence of illegal crossings. 

On Wednesday, April 18, 2024, the United States Senate voted purely along party lines to dismiss charges slammed against Mr. Mayorkas. 

In the past three years, Homeland Security Secretary has presided over one of the most hopelessly chaotic open border initiatives of the Biden administration.  

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat representing New York, had raised two points of order objection to Mayorkas’ impeachment, arguing that the move was unconstitutional because the House had failed to allege conduct arising “to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor, the standard set by Article 2, Section 4 of the constitution. 

The Republican-controlled House accused Homeland Security Secretary of willfully refusing to comply with the law. 

In a 51-48 vote, the Senate upheld Schumer’s objection. 

Disturbed by the development, Republicans tried aimlessly to adjourn Schumer’s objection until April 8, but those efforts failed like a pack of cards, as the Senate voted 51-49 repeatedly along party lines to dismiss the motions.

During the stormy session, the two articles of impeachment brought against Homeland Security Secretary were rejected, destroying every sane effort to hold the Biden administration accountable for orchestrating one of the most horrendous open border crises in American history. 

In his objection, Mr. Schumer said, “The charges brought against Homeland Security Secretary fail to meet the high standards of high crimes and misdemeanors. To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” he noted. Schumer. described the articles of impeachment approved by the House as “the least legitimate, least substantive, and most politicized impeachment trial ever in the history of the United States.”

Amid the delay tactics employed by the Republicans as well as the somewhat noisy session, the procedure was defeated. 

Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, presided over the session, struggling at times to control the heated session. 

Customs and Border Protection recorded over 6 million illegal crossings at the southern border since Mr. Biden entered the White House. Republicans accused the Democrats of ignoring the security crisis at the Mexico border. 

They made references to some high-profile crimes allegedly committed by people suspected to have crossed the border illegally, including the shooting death of a 2-year-old in Maryland and the killing of Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia, to explain why Mr. Mayorkas should be tried. 

All their arguments fell on deaf ears. 

On February 6, 2024, the Republican-controlled House voted 214–216 to approve the articles of impeachment.

According to the articles, the House accused Alejandro Mayorkas of violating immigration laws, his oath of office, and “breach of trust.”

Republicans accused Homeland Security Secretary of violating immigration statutes requiring the detention of all migrants entering the country and of laying out illegal enforcement policies. 

Republicans also faulted Mayorkas’ lifting of several Trump administration policies and lying to Congress that the border was operationally secure. They said Mayorkas did not meet the definition under the Secure Fence Act, saying a secure border is one when not a single person or good wrongly crosses. 

On February 13, the House voted 214 to 213 to pass the two articles of impeachment. Three Republican lawmakers, Reps. Tom McClintock (Calif.), Mike Gallagher (Wish.), and Ken Buck (Colo.), defected and voted against the measure. 

Reacting to the dismissal without trial of Mayorkas’ impeachment, the White House issued a statement describing the allegations as baseless.

“Once and for all, the Senate has rightly voted down this baseless impeachment that even conservative legal scholars said was unconstitutional,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said.

“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas will continue doing their jobs to keep America safe and pursue actual solutions at the border, and Congressional Republicans should join them instead of wasting time on baseless political stunts while killing real bipartisan border security reforms,” he said, while criticizing Republicans for the move.

The House began considering impeachment proceedings against Mr. Alejandro Mayorkas shortly after Republicans took control of the House. Democrats described the allegations against Mr. Alejandro Mayorkas as a “sham.”

The House sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Are we expecting business as usual at the southern border?

In fiscal year 2023, there were nearly 2.5 million illegal crossings at the border, according to the Wilson Center. In 2022, there were 2.2 million encounters, while Fiscal Year 2021 saw about 1.6 million. In 2023, more than half of those reaching the US-Mexico border came from countries other than Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. 

Migrants came from countries such as Columbia and Panama, while 7,000 people included individuals who claimed to hail from 24 different countries, including Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Cameroon. A total of 851,508 individuals were apprehended between ports of entry on the southern border in fiscal year 2019, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

A total of 396,579 individuals were apprehended between ports of entry in 2018. A report by Customs and Border Protection in January 2024 revealed that the CBP had a total of 302,034 encounters along the Southwest border in December 2023 alone.

White House Defends Alejandro Mayorkas

The statement from the White House in the wake of the Senate dismissal of Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment is one of defiance. President Joe Biden and his handlers have never seen anything wrong with illegal crossings at the southern border. They care less whether or not terrorists or dangerous people enter the U.S. as long as it satisfies their sense of diversity. It is on record that the Biden administration has provided hotel accommodations to illegal immigrants while some American veterans are homeless.

Mr. Alejandro Mayorkas has been doing the bidding of his boss and will continue to do so until the end of this administration. No one will hold them accountable, especially in a politically divided Congress. The Democrats are not voting for their conscience but for the interests of their party.