(The Center Square) – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey testified Wednesday that U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has failed to secure the U.S. border and violated his oath of office, citing those as reasons why he should be impeached.
Bailey testified before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Committee during the first hearing to be held this month called for the purpose of impeaching Mayorkas. A U.S. Army combat veteran, Bailey said it is possible to secure a country’s border because he helped secure Iraq’s border.
“In 2005, as a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant, my platoon deployed to Nineveh Province, Iraq, under the command of General H.R. McMaster and was tasked with securing the northwest border between Iraq and Syria,” he said. “Our mission was simple and clear: close the border. And that’s exactly what we did.
“We did not capture people and release them into the interior of the country. We did not hand out citations and ask folks to report back in 10 years,” he said, referring to Mayorkas instructing Border Patrol agents to give illegal foreign nationals “notice to appear” citations for dates years in the future. Instead of deporting them and requiring them to wait in their home country for their case to be heard in the U.S., Mayorkas instructed them to be released into the interior of the U.S.
“And we certainly did not send a ‘border czar’ on fruitless missions to identify the ‘root causes’ of regional migration,” Bailey said, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom President Joe Biden appointed as “border czar” but who has been absent from the southern border.
“No, we closed the border to ensure the country was safe from those who wanted to cross the border to undermine the sovereignty and safety of the nation,” he said.
Bailey also described an important lesson he learned in the Army: “mission success is a function of competent command. Where the leader leads, the troops will go. When the leader has a clear vision, a strong work ethic and a sense of mission integrity, success and security will follow. Conversely, when a leader is indecisive and evasive, chaos will reign – and crisis is inevitable.”
With more than 10 million people illegally entering the U.S. since Mayorkas has led DHS and defied laws established by Congress, Bailey said, “Our border has become a rudderless ship of chaos.
“Secretary Mayorkas, either at the direction of his superiors or of his own volition, has abdicated his responsibilities. He has failed to uphold his oath of office. He has failed to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. And he has failed to do that which is most fundamental to his mission: protect our border. That failure has not only led to today’s impeachment proceeding; it has given rise to an unprecedented level of state actions necessary to fill the vacuum created by the secretary’s ineptitude. State attorneys general like me and my colleagues here today have become the vanguard in the fight for border security.”
While Mayorkas has asked Congress to provide more funding to support his policies, Bailey said Congress already appropriated funding for border security, including building the border wall, but Mayorkas “just refuses to use it.”
Biden stopped construction of former President Donald Trump’s wall on his first day in office.
Border communities have called on Congress to stop funding Mayorkas’ policies, arguing if it does, Congress is complicit in creating the border crisis.
In fiscal 2020, Congress appropriated funds and provided criteria to construct barrier systems at the southern border, which Mayorkas “refused to comply with Congress’ command,” Bailey said. But Mayorkas called on Congress “to cancel remaining border wall funding.” Bailey said they did this because they “knew that without congressional action, they would need to use the appropriated funds for their specified purpose: finish the construction of President Trump’s border wall. Yet when Congress did not capitulate to his demands, the Secretary ignored his constitutional obligations to abide by Congress’s appropriations laws and opted not to use the funding for the purpose Congress directed.”
Missouri and Texas sued over the administration halting border wall construction. A district court ruling is soon expected.
Missouri, Texas and multiple states also sued over Mayorkas implementing an “illegal” Central American Minors Refugee and Parole Program; sued over Mayorkas using the Endangered Species Act to protect a milkweed plant and mussels as a reason to not construct the border wall; and over Mayorkas changing deportation policies to implement “catch and release,” among others.
“Rather than find ways to secure our border, Secretary Mayorkas has been busy enacting policies to make it easier to enter our country illegally,” Bailey said, citing the lawsuits Missouri has filed against Mayorkas. His “refusal to secure the border has resulted in an unprecedented flood of unvetted migrants into the interior of our nation. We have no idea who Mayorkas has allowed into Missouri communities.”
