Mayorkas blasts impeachment as ‘politically motivated accusations and personal attacks’ 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas gave an impassioned and detailed response to House Republicans, disputing arguments to impeach him in a House Republican article that advanced Tuesday’s hike without his public testimony. chanted.

The seven-page letter to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-Tenn.) is personal and accurate, addressing each of the impeachment arguments point-by-point, highlighting his background and Reflects family background.

The letter examined Mayorkas’ oaths in each of his six previous positions, from assistant U.S. attorney to his current position as a Cabinet member, and refuted Greene’s claims that he had not upheld his oath of office.

He also sought to disprove his history as one of the nation’s top immigration enforcement officials, including failing to detain enough immigrants and violating immigration laws, which is at the heart of the Republican impeachment case.

“You claim that we have failed to enforce our immigration laws. That is false. We have presented Congress and committees with hours of testimony, thousands of documents, hundreds of briefings, and our has provided a great deal of information that is very clear about how it enforces its laws,” Mayorkas wrote.

Mayorkas pointed to statistics collected since the Biden administration lifted Title 42 and its restrictions on asylum applications last May, noting that it has expelled more than 500,000 people since then.

He noted that Biden has removed more immigrants in the last three years than the entire Trump administration, including the pandemic. He also cited the implementation of a program that largely mirrors a Trump-era directive that requires many immigrants to first seek asylum in another country.

Mr. Mayorkas joined Democrats and even some Republicans who say his impeachment was an inappropriate use of the process based on policy differences rather than the constitutional high crime and misdemeanor standard.

“There is no doubt that we have policy disagreements on the historically divisive issue of immigration, far more so than in the past 38 years since the last immigration review. It has been going on for a long time between the government and members of Congress. I think it is unconscionable to separate children from their parents as a means of deterrence. I believe that law enforcement at the border is strict and humane. Mayorkas wrote, nodding to Trump-era policies.

“It is our responsibility to the American people to look beyond our differences and work to reach solutions together. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is currently doing just that.”

Mr. Mayorkas, the first Department of Homeland Security secretary to arrive in the United States as an immigrant, becomes the second Cabinet member since the 1870s to be impeached, following a secretary of war who accepted kickbacks.

Mayorkas said he would leave the question of Republicans’ abuse of impeachment power to experts, but added, “What I will not leave to others is the politically motivated accusations and personal attacks that you have made against me.” We’ll take action,” he said.

“My respect for law enforcement was instilled in me by my parents, who fled the communist occupation of Cuba and brought me to this country to give me the freedom and opportunity that our democracy offers. “As my parents experienced great loss at the violent hands of authoritarianism, I wanted American law enforcement officers to stand as tangible symbols of security and the rule of law in our new home.” ”he wrote, adding “everything America has meant and given to my family” motivated him to join the civil service.

“I have had the honor of serving my country for most of my professional life. I have methodically and diligently observed the oath of office I took six times during my career as a public servant.”

Mayorkas also called allegations that his office did not do enough during the months-long investigation “unfounded and inaccurate.”

Of the more than 20,000 pages of documents DHS submitted to Congress this year, 13,000 were sent to the Green Committee. Mayorkas has testified before the House Lands Committee seven times in the past three years.

“Whatever procedure you initiate, no matter how frivolous it may be, does not waive my response to your request for oversight,” he said.

Greene asked Mayorkas to testify before a committee of impeachment hearings on Jan. 18, giving the secretary about two weeks’ notice, ending the usual months of advance lobbying.

Mayorkas was supposed to be the second member of the hearing, where two mothers who lost children to fentanyl and gang-related deaths blamed Biden’s immigration policies.

Mr. Mayorkas said he wanted to testify, but was unable to attend the committee’s proposed date. He was already scheduled to host a Mexican delegation to discuss border issues in broader immigration negotiations with the Senate.

Greene did not adjust the hearing schedule or rate increase plans he announced in a late December interview with Fox News, instead saying Mayorkas should submit written testimony.

According to a memo from Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee obtained by The Hill, the committee began a two-part hearing series to consider impeaching Mayorkas in late January. It is shown that it has been decided to hold an up.

Mr. Mayorkas concluded his letter by expressing his dedication to his work.

“I assure you that your false accusations will not sway me or distract me from the mission of law enforcement and broader public service to which I have devoted and continue to devote most of my career. ” he wrote.