Illegal Border Crossings Today:

House Committee Releases Scathing Preliminary Report on Secretary Mayorkas; Launches Investigation

Rep. Mark Green, Homeland Security, Sec. Mayorkas

FAIR Take | June 2023

Last Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee released a preliminary majority report titled “Causes, Costs, and Consequences: Why Secretary Mayorkas Must Be Investigated for His Border Crisis.”  The report marks the beginning of an investigation into Department of Homeland (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his dereliction of duty.

The report opens with a damning executive summary, focusing on Mayorkas’ failure to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws.  Specifically, the Committee writes, “As the top cabinet official charged with defending and securing the homeland, Mayorkas has a responsibility to the American people to uphold his oath of office, and to protect and defend the homeland … [T]his investigation is focused on determining whether Mayorkas has violated his oath, failed to carry out his constitutional obligations to the homeland, and been derelict in his duty, and thus deserving of greater accountability.”

The Committee’s investigation is a welcome one, as the Biden Administration has embraced open-border policies from the very start.  As the report notes, since January 2021, the Administration has ended border wall construction, the Migrant Protection Protocols (commonly known as Remain in Mexico), asylum cooperative agreements (ACAs) with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and, most recently, Title 42 public health authority to expel illegal aliens.

In a press conference to unveil the report, Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) laid out the framework for the investigation.  Over the next three months, the Committee will examine Secretary Mayorkas’ failure to enforce our immigration laws, and the consequences of that failure, in five phases:

  • Dereliction of duty: examining the abuse of our immigration laws and defied court orders;
  • Empowered drug cartels: documenting the increase in cartel violence, drug trafficking, and human trafficking;
  • Human costs: considering the rise in drug overdoses, increase in criminal activity, and lives lost to violence;
  • Rising dollar costs: reviewing the high price of illegal immigration, including costs in areas like healthcare, education, and law enforcement; and
  • Firsthand accounts: hearing from key inside sources on how the law is being abused.

As the investigation unfolds in the coming weeks, the preliminary report released last Wednesday will be supplemented with additional information in each of the five phases.  Additionally, the Committee will hold further hearings examining how Mayorkas’ policies and leadership have exacerbated the border crisis in those areas.

The Homeland Security Committee’s investigation is a measured and appropriate action, given Secretary Mayorkas’ failure to enforce our immigration laws.  As the report details, under his watch, we have seen more than 6.1 million illegal alien apprehensions nationwide, along with more than 1.5 million gotaways.  To make the situation worse, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has also arrested more than 92,000 individuals with criminal convictions or outstanding warrants since the beginning of fiscal year 2021, and 212 individuals with terrorist links have been apprehended between ports of entry during that same time, up from just 14 in the four years before that.

Following the investigation, the Committee will make a recommendation on next steps, which may include a recommendation to impeach Secretary Mayorkas.  FAIR will work closely with the Homeland Security Committee to uncover the facts and help document the evidence in support of impeachment.