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Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, as we all know, 2 months ago, the House of Representatives impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has led the Department of Homeland Security since the beginning of the Biden administration.

For 3 years, Secretary Mayorkas has overseen the record-breaking crisis at the southern border. During that time, Customs and Border Protection have logged more than 7.4 million migrant encounters--more than two previous administrations combined--and that was over a period of 12 years. In 3 years, the Biden administration has accomplished what took 12 years for the Obama and Trump administrations.

Law enforcement's focused response on migrant crossings has caused security missions, including drug interdiction, to take a hit. Staffing shortages have led the Agency to temporarily close international bridges and ports, which have had a severe and negative impact on Texas border communities. And cities across the country, including those located thousands of miles from the border, are being crushed by the weight of caring for migrants.

Well, that is hardly a positive reflection on Secretary Mayorkas's tenure as DHS Secretary. Throughout the Secretary's tenure, rather than acknowledge the reality and double down on efforts to deal with it, he essentially tried to gloss over it or ignore it. The American people have watched as he has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the border crisis, using watered-down language like it is a ``challenge'' or ``situation.'' They have disputed his claims that the border is secure as they saw footage of migrants walking virtually unimpeded across the border and filling shelters to capacity and beyond.

The American people have raised their eyebrows as he tried to blame Congress for the crisis, even though there are no new laws in effect or no fewer laws in effect than there were during the Trump administration, certainly nothing that Congress has done or did not do which has prompted the dramatic spike in illegal immigration.

The truth is, Secretary Mayorkas is bad at his job. That is not news to anyone. But incompetence, by itself, is not an impeachable offense. We have had a number of inept Cabinet Secretaries throughout our country's history who ended their career without the stain of impeachment.

Well, despite what some of our Democratic colleagues have claimed, Secretary Mayorkas was not impeached because he is unpopular or just because he is incompetent. He was impeached for two serious offenses, in my opinion, the first of which is his willful and systematic refusal to enforce our immigration laws. Secretary Mayorkas has consistently defied the laws that Congress has passed and which have been signed into law by the President of the United States. He has defied the law and the will of Congress by ignoring detention mandates.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyer said the words ``shall detain'' are permissive; it really means ``may.'' Earlier this year, he told Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, TX, that the current release rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally was above 85 percent. So you had a 15-percent chance of not being detained even if you were caught. Apparently, he is proud of that.

Secretary Mayorkas has made catch-and-release the de facto policy of the U.S. Government, which is in direct contravention of our immigration laws. And we can't ignore the Secretary's unprecedented abuse of a process known as parole. Parole was designed to grant temporary entry to foreign nationals in rare and dire circumstances, such as someone experiencing a medical emergency at a port of entry or donating a kidney or being a witness in a trial. It was never designed to be used categorically or more than on a case-by-case basis.

Congress has made clear that parole is intended for urgent circumstances and should be only granted in extraordinary individual cases. But the Secretary violated that law, too, and has used parole to wave broad classes of migrants into the United States.

In less than 2 years, the Biden administration has used this case-by- case authority to grant parole for more than 1.6 million migrants. That is in clear and blatant violation of the law, but that is OK with Secretary Mayorkas, apparently.

The Secretary's failures, though, extend far beyond policy decisions. As I noted, he was impeached for two offenses, the second of which is breaching the public trust. The American people have watched as Secretary Mayorkas went on cable news programs or testified under oath before congressional committees repeatedly proclaiming that the border was secure. It was clearly a lie. It doesn't take an immigration policy expert to see that his claim has no basis in reality.

Day after day, the American people have seen footage that shows how insecure America's southern border is. From the roughly 15,000 migrants who set up camp in Del Rio, TX, a few years ago to the hundreds of migrants who rushed Texas National Guard troops in El Paso last month, there has been no shortage of evidence about our insecure border.

It is not just the misleading and false statements on cable news networks. On more than one occasion, Secretary Mayorkas lied under oath to Congress. He told Members of Congress that the border was secure when, clearly, it was anything but.

The United States will be dealing with the consequences of this crisis for years, maybe even decades. And Secretary Mayorkas must be held accountable. The House of Representatives was completely correct to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, and now the Senate has a duty under the Constitution to hold a trial.

Unfortunately, this has become a familiar process for a majority of our Senate colleagues. In both 2019 and 2021, the Democratic-controlled House impeached President Trump. At the time, my Republican colleagues and I criticized the motivations and process behind these impeachment inquiries, but those concerns didn't impact the process on the Senate floor.

Despite our personal views about the House's actions, the Republican- led Senate still carried out our constitutional duty to convene a Court of Impeachment. In both cases, Senators were sworn as jurors. We listened patiently to both sides as they presented their arguments. And, in the end, we had a fair ``guilty'' or ``not guilty'' vote.

Prior to the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas, the House had sent impeachment articles to the Senate 21 times, and the Senate has held a full trial in all but four instances. In three cases, all of whom were Federal judges, the person resigned before the Senate could vote to convict or acquit. And in the final case, the impeached Senator was expelled from this Chamber before his trial.

There has never ever in U.S. history been a case in which the Senate dismissed or tabled impeachment articles and moved on. Not once. Unfortunately, if reports in the news are correct, that is likely to change this week. The House is expected to transmit the Articles of Impeachment this Wednesday.

Senators haven't received direct guidance, but according to the press, the majority leader is expected to take the completely unprecedented step of voting to table the impeachment articles and eliminate a trial entirely, in violation of the Constitution. As I said, this would be the first time in our Nation's history that the Senate failed to do its duty to consider evidence, hear witnesses, and allow Senators to vote guilty or not guilty.

This would be a dangerous precedent to set. It would give future Senates carte blanche to dispense with serious charges against our Nation's most senior officials. What goes around comes around. If Secretary Mayorkas's impeachment articles are tabled, that will become the common practice in the future.

Impeachment is one of the most solemn features in our democracy, and the majority leader must not brush these articles under the rug. I can understand why he may want to because the evidence that will be adduced at trial will be damning, both for Secretary Mayorkas and for the Biden administration's policies, which are essentially open-border policies. But at least House impeachment managers and Secretary Mayorkas's defense team deserve the opportunity to present their best case before the Senate. And the majority leader should not prevent that from happening.

I would like to remind the majority leader of some words he spoke himself back in 2019. At that point, the balance of power in Washington was completely the inverse of what it is today. We had a Republican majority in the Senate, a Democratic majority in the House, and a Republican in the White House.

After House Democrats impeached President Trump, the majority leader, the Senator from New York, came to the Senate floor to talk about the process he would like to see in a Republican-led Senate. He said:

To my Republican colleagues: Our message is a simple one. Democrats want a fair trial that examines the relevant facts . . . The message from Leader McConnell, at the moment, is that he has no intention of conducting a fair trial, no intention of acting impartially, no intention of getting the facts.

But contrary to what Senator Schumer predicted, the Senate went on to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to hold a trial. We spent more than 2 weeks hearing arguments from both sides--so the American people could judge for themselves--before holding a vote at the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence.

So now I would like to echo the Senator's statement from a few years ago, but with a few small changes. To my Democratic colleagues, our message is a simple one: Republicans want a fair trial that examines the relevant facts.

The message from Leader Schumer, at the moment, is that he has no intention of conducting a fair trial, no intention of acting impartially, and no intention of getting to the facts.

It would be completely unprecedented and unjustified for the Senate to shirk its constitutional role as a Court of Impeachment. The House voted to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, and the Senate has a duty to hold a trial. The majority leader should perform his duty and should not impede or ignore that constitutional requirement.

So I urge the majority leader to take his own advice from 2019 and to give the Senate an opportunity to hold a thorough and fair impeachment trial and let the chips fall where they may.

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