President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a new line of attack against House Republicans’ impeachment efforts against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to a statement.
The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday approved two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas and sent an investigation to the full House.White House Office of Management and Budget released A statement Monday called the investigation “unconstitutional.”
“From his time at the Department of Justice as a U.S. Attorney, to his time as Deputy Attorney General, and now as Secretary of Homeland Security, he has demonstrated a commitment to the rule of law and a deep commitment to the values that make this country great. They have shown commitment.” The statement reads: “The impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is an unprecedented act of unconstitutional political retribution and will do nothing to solve the challenges our country faces in border security.”
Previously, when faced with an impeachment effort against Mayorkas, the president said he didn’t understand it.
Mr. Biden responded, “I don’t understand.”
Shortly after, the president acknowledged that the border was not secure.
“No, it’s not,” Biden told Heinrich.
“For the last 10 years, I couldn’t believe that,” the president continued. “And I’ve been saying that for the last 10 years: Give me the money.”
Under Mr. Mayorkas’ leadership, U.S. Border Patrol encountered more than 2.2 million migrants crossing the southern border during fiscal year 2022, according to federal data. Subsequently, U.S. Border Patrol encountered more than 2 million migrants in fiscal year 2023.
In December 2023, the number of encounters with migrants reached a record high. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 302,034 migrant encounters at the U.S. southern border.
Before unveiling the Senate border funding bill, Biden said he had exhausted all options to resolve the border crisis.
“Have you done everything you can with your executive powers?” [on the border]? ” a reporter asked Biden as he walked to Marine One on the South Lawn.
“I’ve done everything I can. Just give me the power. Give me the border security. Give me the people. Judges. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work properly. ” Biden responded. (Related: Former Border Patrol and ICE officials refute claims that Biden doesn’t have the ‘power’ to secure the border)
Migrants wait for asylum hearings at the U.S.-Mexico border on May 11, 2023. Photographed from San Ysidro, California. Corona-era rules that have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from applying for asylum at the U.S. southern border are set to expire in the early hours of May 11, 2023, creating uncertainty for migrants and sparking a political firestorm. (Photo by SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
The Senate border funding bill, announced Sunday, comes after weeks of negotiations between the White House and Congress. The bill would allocate $1.4 billion to nonprofit organizations that help immigrants who enter the country illegally, while funding their respective wars in Ukraine and Israel.
The bill comes with a total price tag of $118 billion. About $48 billion in aid will go to Ukraine, and about $16 billion will go to aid Israel. The Daily Caller first reported on the contents of the bill on January 24th.
“Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would trivialize this solemn constitutional authority and invite further partisan abuse of it in the future,” Monday’s statement said. “It does nothing to solve the challenges we face in securing our nation’s borders and requires more Border Patrol agents and immigration agents to detect and stop fentanyl at the border. It also does not provide the funding the president has repeatedly requested for state-of-the-art tools.”
