Alejandro Mayorkas' failure to enforce immigration law and address the drug and human trafficking crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is a "gross dereliction of duty and violation of" his oath of office and, if not corrected swiftly, could provide grounds for impeachment, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Thursday in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
"Your failure to faithfully enforce this nation's immigration laws and willful blindness to the very real humanitarian crisis at our southern border amounts to a gross dereliction of duty and a violation of your oath of office. Historically high levels of illegal immigration and illicit drug trafficking demonstrate that our southern border is open for every kind of public health and national security threat imaginable," the Republican lawmakers said in the letter.
"Despite the heroic efforts by the men and women of Border Patrol, who operate with very little support from Washington, D.C., you have failed to achieve any semblance of operational control of the southern border. We have grave concerns about what this failure means for both national security and the health and safety of American citizens. These failures cannot go unaddressed, and your actions cannot be unaccounted for. The American people deserve better."
U.S. Border Patrol has had over 2 million encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border this fiscal year, a new record. The issue continues to be a political challenge for the Biden administration, and Republicans have pounced, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month sent migrants to Democratic-led states.
In August, CBP reported more than 200,000 encounters at the U.S. southwest border.