(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging Congress to “begin impeachment proceedings immediately” of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She cites several reasons to justify her request, including claiming he’s violated federal law, lied multiple times under oath before Congress, and is endangering American lives.
In a letter addressed to five Republican congressional leaders Tuesday, she urged them “to act to protect the American people and impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Secretary Mayorkas is directly responsible, and his actions have caused our unprecedented border crisis.”
She also referred to the ruling of a federal judge that handed her her first major win against the Biden administration in a lawsuit she filed over Mayorkas’ catch-and-release policies. Judge T. Kent Wetherell, of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida, said, “The Court finds in favor of Florida because, as detailed below, the evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country – on ‘parole’ or pursuant to the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ under a wholly inapplicable statute – without even initiating removal proceedings.”
The judge also said the administration’s policies “were akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border. The unprecedented ‘surge’ of aliens that started arriving at the Southwest Border almost immediately after President Biden took office and that has continued unabated over the past two years was a predictable consequence of these actions.”
Moody said if Mayorkas “is unwilling to do the patriotic thing and resign his position, then Congress must initiate impeachment proceedings to get rid of this threat to our national security.”
Mayorkas’s “unlawful policies,” Moody argues, have proven to incentivize an unprecedented number of foreign nationals from over 150 countries illegally entering the U.S. At least 4.5 million people have been apprehended at the southwest border alone since January 2021, she said. Over 1.3 million have been released into the U.S., she added. Additionally, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified before Congress last month that at least 1.5 million people have been reported evading capture by law enforcement who illegally entered the U.S. and their whereabouts are unknown. So far, according to CBP data and Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square, at least 7.3 million people have been reported illegally entering the U.S. since Biden’s been in office.
Law enforcement officials have told The Center Square they believe the numbers are much higher than reported because only a fraction are being caught.
Moody also points to CBP officers seizing more than 31,000 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest border since February 2021, enough to kill the entire U.S. population nearly 22 times. She also argues the administration is emboldening the cartels who are profiting from bringing it into the U.S. and killing Americans.
“Secretary Mayorkas has handed the keys to our border to organizations that should be designated foreign terrorist organizations. These organizations are not only flooding our country with deadly fentanyl, they are also raping, abusing, and exploiting the immigrants they smuggle across the border. Many of these victims are children,” she writes.
“Secretary Mayorkas also directed and oversaw policies that have created a border, national security, and humanitarian disaster that he knows, or should know, put the American public in danger,” she writes. She cites an outdated number of people apprehended on the terrorist watch list as reasons behind Mayorkas’ failure. According to most recent CBP data, officers at the southern and northern border have apprehended nearly 300 people on the terrorist watch list in fiscal 2023 to date, with the majority coming in through Canada.
She also cites examples to support her claim that Mayorkas lied under oath three times last year when testifying before a House Judiciary Committee and House Homeland Security Committee. She cites examples of Mayorkas violating federal immigration law and “repeatedly” abusing the authority of his office as reasons for him to be impeached.
Last February, she led a coalition of 14 attorneys general calling on Mayorkas to resign for his “lack of leadership and intentional destruction of public safety immigration policies.” Since he’s said he has no plans to resign, and since border security continues to worsen, Moody’s calling on Congress to act.
In testimony given last month, Mayorkas told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, “I have unflinching confidence in the integrity of my conduct.” Cornyn said he should be fired.
Last month, Mayorkas’ testimony given before Congress consistently contradicted testimony given by Border Patrol chiefs about a range of issues from operational control of the border to fentanyl seizures to claiming no murderers are being released into the U.S. despite Texas law enforcement regularly apprehending violent criminals released into the U.S., including murderers and sex offenders with outstanding warrants.
