Congressman Biggs Hosts Impeach Mayorkas Forum at a D.C. Think Tank
FAIR Take | February 2023
On the heels of unveiling articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on February 1, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) hosted an “Impeach Mayorkas Forum” at The Heritage Foundation on February 8. The forum featured six Republican Members of Congress, all from different states, as well as testimony from four expert witnesses. In summarizing the case against Mayorkas, former Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and FAIR senior fellow Mark Morgan said, “Secretary Mayorkas ignored our warnings, dismissed career border security experts, abandoned his oath, lied to the American people and Congress, and cast aside the rule of law and the Constitution. He’s betrayed the public’s trust in our system of government.” Morgan’s assessment is demonstrably true, and FAIR urges the Republican House majority to translate words into action and begin the actual impeachment process as soon as possible.
In addition to Morgan, the expert panel also featured former Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan, Director of the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) Rob Law, and Heritage Foundation distinguished fellow Steven G. Bradbury. Homan relayed a powerful story to illustrate the human cost of the Biden Border Crisis. While in South Texas two months ago, he spoke with a doctor who had recently treated a Nigerian family – a father, mother, and twenty-month-old infant – who had started drowning while illegally crossing the Rio Grande. “The men and women of Border Patrol jumped in to save those three,” Homan explained. “However, the child later died. The post-mortem autopsy showed that the twenty-month-old little girl was sodomized in every opening of her little body by the criminal cartels as payment for crossing the border.” This sort of tragedy, which left even some lawmakers in the room visibly stunned despite regular briefings on the border crisis, has sadly become the norm under Biden and Mayorkas.
Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX) highlighted one of Mayorkas’ many lies to the American people: claiming under oath that the U.S. has “operational control” of the border. “To the people sitting back home, that might sound like an opinion, but that’s actually a legal definition,” Cloud explained. Indeed, the Secure Fence Act of 2006 defines “operational control” as “the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.” And it explicitly requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to maintain such control over “the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States.” With over 1.2 million known gotaways, over 25,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl, and over 800 encounters with known or suspected terrorists under Biden, it goes without saying that Mayorkas is failing to uphold the law – and lying about it.
Besides Biggs and Cloud, the other lawmakers at the forum were Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). All are co-sponsors of Biggs’ impeachment resolution, H.Res. 89. FAIR commends these lawmakers for effectively prosecuting the case against Mayorkas, and urges the entire Republican conference to unite behind their effort. Next up should be formal hearings with sworn witnesses, up to and including Mayorkas himself, to continue to build evidence before proceeding to a full House floor vote on the impeachment resolution.