The House Homeland Security Committee released the findings of the second part of their probe Thursday into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, finding he “enriched the cartels,” according to a copy of the report obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Under Mayorkas’ leadership as DHS secretary, cartels have gained more control over the southern border and smuggled more individuals and contraband across it, according to the report. The first phase of House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green’s probe focused on Mayorkas’ alleged “dereliction” of his duty as secretary of DHS.
Cartel smuggling of illegal migrants has become a billion-dollar industry as illegal immigration has surged, The New York Times reported in 2022. Border Patrol recorded a record of more than 2.2 million illegal migrant encounters along the southern border in fiscal year 2022, according to federal data. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Feds Flagged Nearly 75,000 Illegal Migrants As Potential National Security Risks)
“Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ open-borders policies have empowered and emboldened some of the most vicious, ruthless, and savage individuals and groups in the world. Whether it is transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) like the cartels and human smuggling organizations in the Western Hemisphere, potential national security threats from countries who sponsor terrorism, or those coming from major state adversaries like China and Russia, the wide-open Southwest border has given America’s enemies all over the globe an opportunity to infiltrate the homeland—an opportunity too good to pass up,” the report stated.
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – MAY 5: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks at a presser about immigration and the Trump-era expulsion policy Title 42 that is set to end next week on May 5, 2023 in Brownsville, Texas. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
Several House Republicans, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Pat Fallon of Texas and Andy Biggs of Arizona, have already filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. There is, however, a faction of House Republicans who are going to wait for the conclusion of Green’s investigation before backing impeachment, according to congressional staffers who previously spoke with the DCNF.
Green has also yet to call for Mayorkas’ impeachment.
“We’ve got some people that are sharing some information with us that there’s potential fraud, so we’re going to look very hard at all of these things, prepare a packet, show it to the American people, and then if it warrants impeachment, we’ll hand it off to Chairman Jordan. I think it will, based on the information I know,” Green previously told the DCNF.
DHS believes that the blame lies on Congress, which it urges to pass immigration reform legislation.
“Secretary Mayorkas is proud to advance the noble mission of the Department, support its extraordinary workforce, and serve the American people. The Department will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border, protect the United States from terrorism, and improve our cybersecurity, all while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system. Instead of pointing fingers and pursuing baseless attacks, Congress should work with the Department and pass comprehensive legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in decades,” a DHS spokesperson previously told the DCNF regarding Green’s probe.
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