McCaul Speaks to Families of Victims of Secretary Mayorkas' Dereliction of Duty, Hears Heartbreaking Stories
WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Homeland Security — provided remarks and addressed witnesses at the committee’s second impeachment hearing of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, titled “Voices for the Victims: The Heartbreaking Reality of the Mayorkas Border Crisis." McCaul spoke to two victims’ mothers and heard their heartbreaking stories that stand as a testament to Secretary Mayorkas' dereliction of duty.
Watch Rep. McCaul's opening remarks
Below are Rep. McCaul’s full opening remarks:
McCaul: I was Deputy Attorney General for the State of Texas for Criminal Justice. I worked with the victims of crime, that’s what we do. We talk a lot about facts and figures of the border, you know, statistics. But your stories are the most powerful, because they are real life stories about the impact of this man’s violation of the public trust.
And I do, I agree with [Professor Pearlstein’s] podcast that it doesn't have to be a federal statute [to invoke impeachment] because they didn't have a lot of federal statues when the Founding Fathers were at the Constitutional Convention. In fact, the Supreme Court recently held that impeachment is a tool that Congress can use to hold this secretary accountable. It's the legal justification.
I believe he has violated his oath; he has violated the public trust. He has violated your daughters.
I intend to personally uphold my oath to my country that I took in office. [Mayorkas' actions have] been a dereliction of the grossest proportions I've seen in my 25 years of dealing with this border. ... Fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction. I passed a bill out of my committee, defining it as such.
It comes from China, and they make it in Mexico, and they kill our children here. Two hundred thousand — more than Vietnam, World War II. ... I have seen it personally, the destruction it does every five minutes. It is a fentanyl superhighway, and [Secretary Mayorkas'] border policy is personally responsible for it. He took an oath to defend and protect the constitution and the American people, air, land, and sea, from enemies foreign and domestic.
Rep. McCaul spoke to Tammy Nobles and Josephine Dunn — victims who lost loved ones due to Secretary Mayorkas' dereliction of duty.
Watch Rep. McCaul's exchange with witnesses
Below is Rep. McCaul's exchange with the witnesses:
McCaul: Mrs. Dunn, do you believe he has violated that oath?
Dunn: Yes sir. I flew from Arizona to meet him and face him and ask him why, and he’s not here today. I did not know that until after I landed yesterday.
McCaul: He does not have the decency to even show up and talk to you personally.
Dunn: That is correct. Today is my daughter's birthday. I would have much rather been home with my poor husband grieving her. I did not need to be here today. So whatever he's doing, I hope it's more important than that.
McCaul: Let me say, I am sorry, because apparently the secretary doesn't care to show up and say that to you.
Dunn: Exactly.
McCaul: Did you know he is meeting with Mexican officials today? How does that make you feel?
Dunn: Oh, you have no idea how I feel.
McCaul: I will be meeting with Mexican officials later next week, and I will have a different story for them. I will have your story that I will take to them. ...
It sickens me what happened to your daughter, and you must relive it in your head every single day, what she went through. What your poor daughter had to experience that day. Do you hold Mr. Mayorkas personally accountable for the death of your daughter?
Nobles: Yes, I do.
McCaul: I do too, and that is why he needs to be impeached.
Do you hold him personally accountable for what he did? Do you hold him accountable for the policies he established which violated the public trust and ended up in the death of your daughter?
Nobles: Yes.
McCaul: And yet he doesn't have the decency or guts to show up today and say I’m sorry. Did he?
Nobles: No. He did not. I mean, she was killed three days after her 20th birthday. She spent three days being 20. I sent her a message on her birthday on July 24th that I was proud of the woman she was becoming and that I love her. And I did not know that would be the last message of telling her I love her.
She even bought herself, I even gave her the money to buy her a Jojo Siwa cake, because that is who she loved. She had autism, and she loved Jojo and her life was brutally taken. She had no idea what to expect that day when she went to bed after getting off the night shift of work and went to sleep in her own bed and had no idea what was going to happen on July 27th.
McCaul: Let me close by saying that I have a daughter that is your daughter's age. She has a cat named Snickers, and I know your daughter had a cat named Oreo. This is the personal side of this chaos created by this man. This is a personal life story of the cause and effect that has happened because of these failed policies on the border. It’s destruction, and it's death, and it has to stop.
###