-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, tomorrow the House of Representatives is expected to do something that is not normal but which is actually a rather extraordinary act, and that is to transmit Articles of Impeachment against the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Over the last 3 years, Secretary Mayorkas has presided over an unprecedented security crisis at our southern border; the numbers vary but roughly 7.4 million migrant encounters, more than 1.8 million ``got-aways''--people simply evading law enforcement and melting into the great American heartland--untold amounts of fentanyl and other deadly drugs pouring into our country that killed 108,000 people last year alone.

Then there are the children: 400,000 children placed with sponsors in the interior of the United States that have since been abandoned, literally, by the Biden administration. They say it is not their problem. They don't need to know whether they are going to school, whether they are getting the healthcare they need, or whether they are being trafficked for sex or involuntary servitude.

Secretary Mayorkas, as the agent of the Biden administration responsible for this, has willfully and systemically refused to enforce our immigration laws. He has taken a bad situation and actually accomplished an amazing feat: He has actually made it worse, not better.

Not only that, he has violated the public trust by repeatedly lying under oath to Congress and the American people.

If these aren't impeachable offenses, I don't know what would qualify.

Secretary Mayorkas must be held responsible for his actions, and I am glad our colleagues in the House took the first step toward public accountability. The ball will soon land in the Senate's court, and it is alarming that we are hearing from the Senate majority leader and our Democratic colleagues that they are preparing not to hold a trial-- which is what the Constitution and Senate rules require--but rather to sweep it under the rug without ever even holding a trial. That would mark the first time in American history that has happened and establish a dangerous new precedent.

It is not too late, though, for our Democratic colleagues to abandon this misguided plan. But if they move forward, they should know that Republicans will use every tool available to us to try to force a full trial. Republican Senators are preparing points of order to prevent Democrats from violating the Constitution and Senate rules. But, of course, we are realists. We understand that if all 51 Democrats stand together, they could run rough shod over the Constitution and those same Senate rules.

I plan to raise a point of order on the increased number of encounters with illegal immigrants that happened to be on the Terror Watchlist. These sorts of encounters used to be extremely uncommon. During the Trump administration, Border Patrol didn't encounter more than six suspected terrorists in a given year. When President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took over, that changed dramatically.

Last year alone, Border Patrol encountered 172 suspected terrorists, more than 98 percent of them from across the southern border. We don't even know, out of the 1.8 million, how many more people who are on the Terrorist Watchlist simply evaded law enforcement. So there could be-- probably are--many, many more.

Making matters worse, at least some of these individuals have actually been released by the Biden administration into the interior of the United States. Last week, for example, NBC news reported that an Afghan migrant on the Terror Watchlist who was arrested by Border Patrol is now roaming freely in the United States. He was first apprehended last March for illegally crossing the border. Agents suspected that something was up, but they lacked enough information to reach a conclusion about whether he actually was or was not on that list. But rather than detain him while they attempted to verify his identity, Customs and Border Protection released him. Making matters worse, they didn't even notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement about his potential terrorist ties.

Border Patrol, of course, works at the border; Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the one that enforces immigration law in the interior of the country, including repatriating or returning people who have made their way illegally or who otherwise are a threat to public safety.

Well, ICE--Immigration and Customs Enforcement--simply waived him into the interior of the United States under the Biden administration's misguided policy called Alternatives to Detention Program. In other words, rather than detain dangerous people at the border, the Biden administration program is simply to release them. This same program actually allows these same individuals to apply for asylum, to receive a work authorization, and to fly within the interior of the United States. In other words, it does not restrict their activities one bit.

It wasn't until February of this year, nearly 1 year after he was first arrested, that ICE was alerted about this individual's potential terrorist ties. ICE agents released the man in San Antonio in late February, and he appeared before an immigration judge in Texas last month. But for some inexplicable reason, ICE withheld from the judge information about the individual's potential terrorist ties. So without that information, the judge released the man on bond to wait his date in court in a year. Today, this man who is believed to be linked to an Afghan terror group is roaming freely in the United States. He could be anywhere.

But this is just one example among hundreds or more, perhaps even thousands or more, of the many dangers Secretary Mayorkas has created and facilitated for the American people.

So when the House votes on Articles of Impeachment, the Senate has a duty not only to be sworn as jurors--as we have done two times fairly recently--but also to call witnesses and hear arguments to understand how the Secretary's actions have impacted our country.

And I would hope that Secretary Mayorkas, if he thinks he has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, that he would welcome the opportunity to defend and explain his actions. If he and our Democratic colleagues believe he has done nothing wrong, they have nothing to be afraid of. But, of course, we all know and the country knows better.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source