McCaul Remarks on How Secretary Mayorkas' Failed Leadership Warrants Impeachment
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Homeland Security — provided remarks and questioned witnesses at the committee's first of two impeachment hearings, entitled, "Havoc in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas’ Failed Leadership Has Impacted the States."
“The Secretary has emboldened a criminal enterprise and the biggest human trafficking scheme in my lifetime.”- Rep. Michael McCaul
Watch Rep. McCaul's full remarks and questions
Full remarks below
Rep McCaul: "This is a solemn occasion. Probably the most serious obligation we have in this committee, on this committee. The last time a cabinet member was impeached was during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant many years ago. In my experience as a deputy attorney general for criminal justice, [for the] state of Texas, as a federal prosecutor charged with counterterrorism and national security, and [former] chairman of this very committee — I’ve never seen this border more out of control.
Mayorkas took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in my judgement, he has violated that oath. Federal law provides [that the] government detain and remove aliens convicted of crimes and those who are issued removal orders by immigration courts. This is the very issue that my state took to the Supreme Court. He has violated [the law]. On day one, he rescinded Remain in Mexico — Migrant Protection Protocol — a direct cause and effect opening the flood gates.
I marked that provision up in my committee, Foreign Affairs, [and] it’s now part of H.R.2. But, he took that power away from his law enforcement officers. And I have to quote ... former Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan ... “For the system to be credible, people actually have to be deported at the end of the process.” And let’s look at the numbers, they speak for themselves.
8 million encounters under this administration; 2.3 [million] aliens in the interior of the United States with no legal status — enough to fill up 13 states. Just last month we had over 300,000 trying to get into the United States. Over 300 on the terror watch list have gotten into the United States. When I chaired this committee, that was a big red flag, and the FBI director said so when he testified as well.
Over 200,000 Americans have died from fentanyl. ... 200,000 Americans — that’s more than triple the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam war to put that into perspective. The Secretary has emboldened a criminal enterprise and the biggest human trafficking scheme in my lifetime.
[Sec. Mayorkas] terminated MPP, [and] Chief Ortiz noted that had a direct cause and effect. And when Mayorkas went down to the border, they turned their backs on him because quote, “Sir, you have turned your back on us.”
My state has spent almost $14 billion just this cycle. We’ve allocated $9.6 billion to Operation Lone Star. My governor bused illegals to sanctuary cities and states around the country to showcase what we are experiencing, and you are as well in your states every single day. And the damage was clear. The Supreme Court did note the damage but said that this had to be resolved outside the courts. In other words, they said that Congress had to address this either through appropriations, oversight, and in Sam Alito’s [dissent], yes, through impeachment.
This is the legal justification for these proceedings. The founders believed impeachable offenses included corrupt administration, neglect of duty, and official misconduct, at the constitutional convention they said this. Alexander Hamilton asserted abuse or violation of public trust was impeachable.
Justice Story, [on the] Supreme Court [held that] ... a violation of public trust is sufficient. I find [Secretary Mayorkas' dereliction of duty] to be a profound violation of public trust. Alexander Hamilton stated in Federalist Paper 65, “The subjects of impeachment are a nature which may be denominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to society itself.”
My God, what about the injury done to society that we’ve seen?"
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