Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denounced the “harmful” divide on immigration to a group of mayors after declining to attend a Thursday impeachment hearing against him.
Mayorkas spoke to a group of mayors as surging illegal immigration has strained communities across the country. Most of the speech focused on other topics, such as terrorism and climate change, but he did briefly address the border.
“You know that no government can operate effectively in a silo,” Mayorkas said. “And you know that when we shun collaboration and reject coordination, and when we treat each other as adversaries, not allies, the harmful results speak for themselves. Nowhere is this more evident than in our efforts to tackle the significant challenges at our southern border, where the level of migrant encounters is high.”
Mayorkas told the United States Conference of Mayors, which was meeting at a downtown Washington hotel, that collaboration is needed at all levels of government while lamenting the “broken immigration system” that has “needed legislative repair for decades.”
The speech came on the heels of an impeachment hearing where House Republicans called for his ouster and suggested Mayorkas should have been there in person to testify.
“Secretary Mayorkas has disregarded court orders, laws passed by Congress, and has lied to the American people,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) said Thursday morning. “Who wants a secretary that can just disregard the fundamental pillars of the Constitution? We cannot tolerate that, whether they are a Republican or Democrat.”
Mayors from both political parties will be meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday.
Several big-city mayors have clashed with the Biden administration over the immigration crisis, including Washington, D.C.’s Muriel Bowser, New York City’s Eric Adams, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. However, in many cases, these mayors are calling for more federal money or asking for immigrants to be given work permits rather than calling to keep them from entering the United States.
House Republicans say Mayorkas is unwilling to work with or even appear before Congress, leading to the impeachment push.
Democrats counter that the GOP is not operating in good faith.
“Instead of working across the aisle to find bipartisan solutions to strengthen border security and fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades, House Republicans are choosing to play extreme, far-right politics by following leader Marjorie Taylor Greene into a baseless impeachment stunt targeting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,” White House oversight spokesman Ian Sams wrote.
Despite his words about needing “legislative repair,” Republicans also hold that Mayorkas is not upholding laws as they are written already.
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“The framers of our Constitution were clear that executive branch officials were expected to follow their duty to enforce the laws of this country, and, if they willfully failed to do so, they should no longer hold their office,” Green said. “That is why we’re here today.”
Mayorkas has not appeared at the two impeachment hearings held so far, though he has until 10 days following Thursday’s hearing to submit written testimony. The Department of Homeland Security says he’s appeared before Congress 27 times already, more than any other Biden Cabinet official.