Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign for his failure to enforce our country’s immigration laws. A record-breaking 2 million illegal migrants have crossed the southern border just this fiscal year, and illegal drugs coming over the border are destroying communities across America.
“Your total abdication of responsibility to secure the border has consequences. It has resulted in a record 78 individuals on a terror watchlist entering our country this year alone,” said Senator Hawley.
During a Senate Committee hearing exactly one year ago, on Sept. 21, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas told Senator Hawley that DHS was executing a plan and was personally committed to securing the southern border.
Read the full letter here or below:
September 21, 2022
The Hon. Alejandro Mayorkas
Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
2707 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE
Washington, D.C. 20528
Secretary Mayorkas,
I write with alarm over record-setting levels of illegal immigration into our country. According to your own department’s statistics, Customs & Border Protection agents have now encountered over 2 million illegal immigrants crossing our southern border this fiscal year. This is substantially higher than last year’s record 1.7 million encounters, and the year is still not even over. This number represents more than a four-fold increase in illegal immigration compared to FY 2020. And these are only the official statistics, which fail to capture the many got-aways who evaded detection. After two years on the job, you have demonstrated that you have no intention of enforcing our immigration laws.
Your total abdication of responsibility to secure the border has consequences. It has resulted in a record 78 individuals on a terror watchlist entering our country this year alone. And those are only the ones we know about.
Those entering our country are also smuggling lethal drugs, like fentanyl, that are destroying our communities. In my state of Missouri, the leading cause of death among adults ages 18 to 44 is drug overdose—and 70% of these deaths involve opioids. As I recently wrote to the Drug Enforcement Administration, we are now seeing the proliferation of so-called rainbow fentanyl, specifically manufactured to resemble candy and appeal to children and teenagers. These drug cartels apparently believe they are clear to operate at our southern border.
One year ago, on September 21, 2021, you testified under oath before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in response to my questioning, that “We have a plan, we our executing on our plan, and we will continue to do so.” You went so far as to say your plan “is in fact working.” At the time, our country was experiencing 200,000 illegal immigrant encounters per month. I asked you whether you considered this a “success.” Now, we have already eclipsed last year’s records. So let me ask you again, exactly one year later, was this your plan? Do you consider 2 million illegal immigrants crossing our border to be a success?
Sadly, I think you do. This was the predictable result of your open border policies. Your intentional disregard for our country’s immigration laws makes you unfit to remain in office. You should resign.
Sincerely,
Josh Hawley
United States Senator