President Joe Biden unveiled a new line of attack on Monday against House Republican’s impeachment effort against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to a statement.
The House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas on Wednesday, sending the inquiry to the House floor. The White House Office of Management and Budget released a statement Monday, blasting the inquiry as “unconstitutional.”
“From his time in the Justice Department as a U.S. Attorney to his service as Deputy Secretary and now Secretary of Homeland Security, he has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our Nation great,” the statement reads. “Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border.”
When previously confronted with impeachment efforts against Mayorkas, the president said he didn’t understand it.
“What do you say to Republicans who are trying to impeach Mayorkas?” Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked the president.
“I don’t get it,” Biden responded.
Moments later, the president then admitted that the border is not secure.
“No, it’s not,” Biden told Heinrich.
“I haven’t believed that for the last 10 years,” the president continued. “And I’ve said it for the last 10 years. Give me the money.”
Under Mayorkas’ leadership, U.S. Border Patrol encountered more than 2.2 million migrants crossing the southern border during the 2022 fiscal year, according to federal data. U.S. Border Patrol then encountered more than 2 million migrants in the 2023 fiscal year.
December 2023 saw the highest number of migrant encounters on record. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) logged 302,034 migrant encounters at the U.S. southern border.
Ahead of the release of the Senate border funding bill, Biden said he had exhausted all of his options to solve the border crisis.
“Have you done everything you can do with executive authority [on the border]?” a reporter asked Biden as he walked out to Marine One on the South Lawn.
“I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power. Give me the border patrol. Give me the people. The judges. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work right,” Biden responded. (RELATED: Former Border Patrol And ICE Officials Refute Biden’s Claim That He Doesn’t Have The ‘Power’ To Secure Border)
Migrants wait for asylum hearings at the US-Mexico border on May 11, 2023, as seen from San Ysidro, California. Covid-era rules that have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from claiming asylum at the southern US border expired early on May 11, 2023, creating uncertainty for migrants and setting off a political firestorm. (Photo by SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
The Senate border funding bill, released Sunday, comes after weeks of negotiations between the White House and Congress. While funding both Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars, the bill would allocate $1.4 billion in funding for nonprofit organizations that assist migrants entering the country illegally.
In total, the bill has a $118 billion price tag. About $48 billion in aid will go to Ukraine and almost $16 billion will help aid Israel. The Daily Caller first reported on Jan. 24 the insides of the bill.
“Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would trivialize this solemn constitutional power and invite more partisan abuse of this authority in the future,” the Monday statement read. “It would do nothing to solve the challenges we face in securing our Nation’s borders, nor would it provide the funding the President has repeatedly requested for more Border Patrol agents, immigration judges, and cutting-edge tools to detect and stop fentanyl at the border.”