On Thursday, a mother of two appeared before the House committee conducting an impeachment inquiry into Alejandro Mayorkas, eviscerating the Secretary of Homeland Security for failings in U.S. border security, brought on by a surge in crime and fentanyl trafficking. They shared personal tragedies.
“On July 27, 2022, I heard the worst news any parent ever wants to hear: My daughter, Kayla Hamilton, just turned 20,” Maryland mother Tammy Nobles told the House Homeland Security Committee. was murdered,” he said. It was left on the floor in her room like trash. ”
“Members of a gang known for the illegal MS-13 strangled my daughter with a cord, brutally raped and murdered her, and robbed her of $6,” said Josephine Dunn, another grieving parent and law professor. Mr. Nobles, who appeared, added, but Mr. Mayorkas refused. He cited an event he hosted with Mexican officials.
Republican panelists argued that Mayorkas, 64, is committing high crimes and misdemeanors for failing to enforce federal immigration laws and misleading Congress about the Biden administration's border controls.
Mr. Nobles and Mr. Dunn told the committee that the Biden administration's policies were the direct cause of their daughter's death.
Nobles accused DHS of “professional negligence” in screening immigrants, saying agency employees failed to check for gang tattoos when processing a 17-year-old girl from El Salvador who went on to kill her daughter. He also said the department had not attempted such an act. Check with officials in the Central American country to see if he was a known MS-13 member.
It also pointed out that DHS officials failed to follow regulations requiring that unaccompanied minors entering the country be placed with verified relatives, a failure that resulted in migrants being “also undocumented immigrants.” “I was able to rent a room in a trailer park from another individual,” he said. ”
“If we had stricter border policies, my daughter would still be alive today,” Nobles concluded.
Josephine Dunn testified about the birthday of her late daughter Ashley, who died of a fentanyl overdose on May 26, 2021.
“I want to share with as many parents as possible the immense pain and debilitating grief that I carry every day,” Dunn told committee members. “In those same five minutes that I share her story, someone's loved one in the United States will die after Mr. Mayorkas came all the way from Arizona to avoid being here today.”
“Every time I close my eyes, I see all the tubes. When it's quiet, I can hear all the machines that were keeping her alive,” she said, her voice breaking.
“In my humble opinion, Mr. Mayorkas' border policies are partially responsible for my daughter's death. His expansive border policies have allowed large amounts of toxic fentanyl to flow into our country. Arizona is the fentanyl highway to the United States.”
“Weapons of mass destruction have caused unimaginable deaths and incalculable harm to our nation's families, including my own,” she concluded. “My family was destroyed. My heart was broken. And he couldn't even come here today and face me.”
Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said he believed Mayorkas “does a good job of vetting illegal aliens” and “cares about the well-being and safety of the American people.” When asked if they were there, both mothers said no.
“No way,” Dan replied flatly.
On Wednesday, the committee chair and Department of Homeland Security officials exchanged accusations over the reason for Mayorkas' absence, with a spokesperson saying, “The committee did not respond to the Department of Homeland Security to find a mutually agreeable date.” said.
Mr. Greene said at the beginning of the hearing that he had repeatedly asked the chief justice to come to court but had been refused, but Mr. Mayorkas made other comments to reporters indicating his willingness to appear.
“That's interference,” Green added. Mr. Green requested written testimony that Mr. Mayorkas had 10 days to submit to the committee.
A DHS spokesperson said the committee “provided this offer of written testimony to the media prior to lobbying the department” and was “doing politics, not work.”[ing] To address serious problems at our borders together. ”
Democrats on the committee dismissed the hearing as a “sham” impeachment proceeding, similar to previous hearings for three state attorneys general, with Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) saying, “It is predetermined.”
“You can't impeach a Cabinet secretary just because you don't like the president's policies. That's not the purpose of impeachment,” Thompson said in his opening remarks. “The Constitution doesn't say that. Unfortunately, Republicans are willing to undermine the Constitution.”
Minority witness Deborah Perlstein, a Princeton University law professor, made similar accusations, calling impeachment a “narrow remedy.”
“The last significant immigration bill to pass Congress with bipartisan support was in 1986,” she said. “The measure being considered here, impeachment, is not a means of policy change. In particular, the impeachment of one Cabinet member who is replaced by another official given the exact same role is not an option for the heartbreaking actions we are hearing. It will have no effect on the problem.” “
The last Cabinet member to be impeached served under President Ulysses S. Grant and resigned hours before the House meeting. voted to do so in 1876. A few months later, the Senate acquitted Secretary of War William Belknap.
But another panel member, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), disagreed.
“I believe he violated his oath. He betrayed the public's trust. He violated your daughters,” he told witnesses. “I personally intend to uphold my oath to the country I took office in. This was the most egregious dereliction of duty in the 25 years I have been involved on this border.”
