[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 470 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 470

Impeaching Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, 
                   for high crimes and misdemeanors.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 6, 2023

Mr. Higgins of Louisiana submitted the following resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Impeaching Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, 
                   for high crimes and misdemeanors.

    Resolved, That Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland 
Security, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the 
following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States 
Senate:
     Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people 
of the United States of America, against Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, 
Secretary of Homeland Security, in maintenance and support of its 
impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

                               article i 

     Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, in his conduct as Secretary of 
Homeland Security, has engaged in a pattern of conduct that directly 
violates his constitutional oath as an executive officer of the United 
States in the following manner:
    Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas was confirmed and sworn in as the 
Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States of America on 
February 2, 2021. Secretary Mayorkas took a solemn oath, as stated in 
section 3331 of title 5, United States Code, to ``support and defend 
the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and 
domestic'' and to ``well and faithfully discharge the duties of the 
office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.''
    As the Secretary of Homeland Security, a cabinet-level official 
established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296), 
Secretary Mayorkas is vested with the duty to advise the President on 
decision making critical to the safety and security of the United 
States. Secretary Mayorkas, with his 30-year career as a law 
enforcement official, is entrusted by the President to uphold the 
mission of the Department of Homeland Security as dictated by statute 
and ensure the constitutionality, legality, and efficacy of executive 
policy in service of such mission.
    Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution mandates that the 
Federal Government ``shall guarantee to every State in this Union a 
Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against 
Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive 
(when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.''
    Further, section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public Law 
109-367) legally obligates the Secretary of Homeland Security ``to 
maintain operational control over the entire international land and 
maritime borders of the United States.'' Specifically, ``operational 
control'' is defined as ``the prevention of all unlawful entries into 
the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful 
aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.'' 
This ``operational control'' standard codified the well-established, 
good-faith efforts of securing land and maritime borders to preserve 
the sovereignty of the United States.
    Secretary Mayorkas is legally bound, by constitutional duty and 
sworn oath, to protect the individual States of this Republic and the 
citizens therein from threats to our Nation's homeland. He has failed, 
beyond a reasonable doubt, to uphold this oath and to protect the 
American people as required by law.
    Specifically, Secretary Mayorkas has intentionally used his 
position as Secretary of Homeland Security to dismantle previously 
successful border security resources, enforcement, and policies forcing 
border and interior enforcement agents to deprioritize their primary 
law enforcement mission.
    As a result, the integrity of our international land border with 
Mexico has been compromised, creating a clear and present danger to the 
American people. This includes, but is not limited to, the following 
examples:
            (1) Secretary Mayorkas has used his Federal position and 
        resources to cease all additional construction of border wall 
        system, fencing, and other associated infrastructure and 
        technology, which were not only authorized, but also funded, by 
        the United States Congress. The result of the cessation of 
        additional construction resulted in several negative 
        consequences. First, it prevented the completion of border wall 
        fencing along portions of the United States-Mexico border that 
        were deemed to be most in need of fencing, thereby increasing 
        the security vulnerabilities of the United States. Second, the 
        unused, taxpayer-purchased materials that were intended for 
        border wall construction and associated infrastructure and 
        technology were left unattended along portions of the United 
        States-Mexico border, which not only left it vulnerable to 
        theft or vandalism, but also increased the danger to Federal 
        and non-Federal law enforcement along portions of that border 
        by increasing the risks of dangerous encounters with the 
        violent cartels overseeing the importation of illegal aliens. 
        Third, it caused economic damage via the termination of 
        contracts with contractors and subcontractors who had been 
        hired to construct the wall and associated infrastructure and 
        technology.
            (2) Secretary Mayorkas has used his Federal position and 
        resources to both terminate meaningful border security and 
        immigration enforcement efforts and redirect the official time 
        and resources of Department of Homeland Security personnel who 
        are responsible for border security and immigration enforcement 
        to off-mission tasks. This includes directing the personnel of 
        the United States Border Patrol, which is a component of the 
        U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to deprioritize patrolling 
        the United States-Mexico border, while expanding United States 
        Border Patrol resources to ``process'' illegal aliens on United 
        States soil. This also includes directing the personnel of 
        Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cease engaging in 
        statutorily mandated alien arrest and removal efforts, even 
        under circumstances involving aliens who were identified as 
        public safety risks. This also includes directing personnel of 
        the Department of Homeland Security to cease and desist from 
        collecting DNA samples from aliens who are apprehended at the 
        United States-Mexico border, despite the fact that it is a key 
        tool for identifying terrorists, criminal actors, and false 
        family units. This also includes directing personnel of the 
        Department of Homeland Security to deactivate completed sensor 
        and light infrastructure and technology that was embedded into 
        previously constructed border wall along the United States-
        Mexico border, which has simultaneously reduced operational 
        awareness of the border environment for both Federal and non-
        Federal law enforcement, enhanced the risk of injury or death 
        for Federal and non-Federal law enforcement, and facilitated 
        further illegal immigration by making it easier for cartels and 
        other criminal organizations to operate unnoticed in close 
        proximity to the United States-Mexico border.
            (3) Secretary Mayorkas has used his Federal position and 
        resources to suspend an array of regulatory and guidance-based 
        policies that had been promulgated and used during previous 
        administrations to both discourage the flow of illegal aliens 
        into the United States and empower Federal immigration 
        enforcement officials to prevent aliens from unlawfully 
        entering into the United States, especially along the United 
        States-Mexico border. Effective policies that Secretary 
        Mayorkas ordered suspended include--
                    (A) the catch-and-release prohibition, which ended 
                the practice of releasing unlawfully present aliens 
                into the United States during the pendency of their 
                immigration cases;
                    (B) the implementation of the Remain in Mexico 
                Policy (otherwise referred to as the Migrant Protection 
                Protocols), which required that non-Mexican nationals 
                seeking asylum in the United States were required to 
                wait in Mexico pending the adjudication of their asylum 
                claims;
                    (C) the use of statutory expedited removal, which 
                allowed Federal officials to remove forthwith any alien 
                who is apprehended anywhere in the United States within 
                two years of his or her unlawful entry;
                    (D) full implementation of public health emergency 
                exclusion authority as authorized pursuant to section 
                362 of the Public Health Service 26 Act (42 U.S.C. 
                265), which allowed Federal officials to deny the entry 
                of any aliens seeking entry at or between United States 
                ports of entry during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
                    (E) numerous other regulatory and guidance changes 
                to ensure the more rapid enforcement of Federal 
                immigration law.
    Secretary Mayorkas' actions and inactions, in his capacity as an 
executive officer of the United States, have caused a loss of any sane 
or objective assessment of ``operational control'' of the United 
States-Mexico border, resulting in the most significant border invasion 
in our Nation's history concerning persons and illicit drugs.
    According to 2020 reports, under the final year of the Trump 
administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 400,651 
aliens seeking to enter the southwest border of the United States. Of 
these apprehensions, only 3 were individuals on the Terrorist Screening 
Database and 30,557 were unaccompanied alien children. The detected 
criminal runner ``got aways'' totaled approximately 136,000. Over 
1,000,000 pounds of illegal drugs were stopped at the border during 
that timeframe.
    Since the start of the Biden administration and appointment of 
Secretary Mayorkas, encounters at the southwest border have swelled far 
beyond the enforcement and processing capacity of the U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection. This has been accompanied by increases in attempted 
entries of terrorists and unlawful aliens, and a decrease in the 
interdiction of illegal drugs.
     According to the 2021 reports, during the transition from the 
Trump administration to the Biden administration, U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection encountered 1,734,686 aliens, seeking to enter the 
United States, representing a 332 percent increase from the prior year. 
Over 80 percent of this increase occurred under the Biden 
administration. Of these apprehensions, 15 were individuals on the 
terrorist screening database and 144,837 were unaccompanied alien 
children, an increase of 373 percent from just the year prior. The 
detected criminal runner ``got aways'' nearly tripled to approximately 
389,000. The amount illegal drugs stopped at the border dropped by 
145,923 pounds to 913,326 pounds.
    According to the 2022 reports, during the first full year of 
Secretary Mayorkas' command at the Department of Homeland Security, 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 2,378,944 aliens, 
representing a 37 percent increase from the prior year and over 493 
percent increase compared to 2020. Of these apprehensions, 98 
individuals were on the terrorist screening database, and 149,093 were 
unaccompanied alien children. In this time period, the number of known 
criminal runner ``gotaways'' increased to 600,000, an increase of 54 
percent from the previous year and a 341 percent increase from just two 
years prior. Meanwhile, illegal drugs stopped at the border dropped to 
655,780 pounds, only 62 percent of the amount stopped in 2020.
    To date, under the Biden administration and Secretary Mayorkas, 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has encountered over 5,200,000 
aliens at the southwest border. Additionally, there have been over 
1,500,000 known criminal runner ``gotaways'', aliens who have 
intentionally evaded law enforcement and entered the United States 
illegally. These numbers reflect the continual disintegration of any 
reasonable measure of ``operational control'' under the direction of 
Secretary Mayorkas.
     Secretary Mayorkas has undermined the law enforcement capacity of 
the Department of Homeland Security. Frontline agents have been pulled 
from their law enforcement responsibilities and into ``processing'' 
roles, turning Federal law enforcement into facilitators of illegality 
and leaving significant gaps in our security infrastructure along the 
United States-Mexico border.
    As a result, the number of criminal runner ``gotaways'' has 
steadily risen, enabling criminals to enter the country undeterred. 
According to law enforcement sources, these aliens have criminal intent 
and are the most likely to be involved with the human, sex, and drug 
trafficking activities of transnational criminal organizations. These 
aliens then disappear into the interior of the United States and plug 
into existing criminal networks.
    Secretary Mayorkas, in his conduct as an executive officer of the 
United States and the policies enacted under his direction, has so 
deprioritized border enforcement that he has ceded control of large 
portions of the United States-Mexico border to dangerous Mexican 
cartels. Along some segments of the United States-Mexico border, 
cartels have even established a presence on the United States side of 
the border and, in some cases, on Federal property. This has allowed 
the cartels to greatly increase their ability and capacity for human 
and drug smuggling.
    Secretary Mayorkas has overseen a stunning increase in the flow of 
illicit drugs into the United States from Mexico and elsewhere around 
the globe, including the People's Republic of China. Under Secretary 
Mayorkas' tenure, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized enough 
illicitly manufactured fentanyl to kill over 3,300,000,000 Americans, 
nearly 10 times the population of the United States. Law enforcement 
officers have acknowledged that only a fraction of illicit controlled 
dangerous substance drugs are intercepted at the border, and a vast 
amount of the illicit fentanyl entering the United States is doing so 
between ports of entry.
    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
illicitly manufactured fentanyl caused the deaths of 110,236 Americans 
in 2022. It has become a leading cause of death for adults between the 
ages of 18 and 45. Most illicitly manufactured fentanyl found in the 
United States is being manufactured with raw chemical precursors from 
the People's Republic of China, trafficked through Mexico, and funneled 
into the United States between ports of entry along the United States-
Mexico border.
    For over two years, Secretary Mayorkas has failed to take 
corrective measures necessary to restore a professional standard of 
``operational control'' over the southwest border of the United States. 
Far from achieving this mission, Secretary Mayorkas has diminished the 
integrity of our border, allowing dangerous cartels to operate human 
and drug trafficking operations, and the result has been illegality, 
injury, and death for untold thousands at the border and on the 
interior of the United States.
    Secretary Mayorkas' willful dereliction of his oath and 
constitutional obligation to protect the United States and their 
citizenry from the invasion of illegal aliens and illegal drugs, 
including illicit fentanyl, warrants his removal from the Office of 
Secretary of Homeland Security.
    Wherefore Secretary Mayorkas, by such conduct, thus warrants 
impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to 
hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United 
States.

                              article ii 

     Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, in his conduct while Secretary of 
Homeland Security, engaged in a pattern of conduct that undermined the 
sovereignty of the United States as follows:
    Secretary Mayorkas' ongoing violation of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act demonstrates his blatant disregard for upholding the 
laws of the sovereign United States. Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A)) grants the 
Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to parole aliens on a 
``case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons'' or ``significant 
public benefit, provided that the aliens present neither a security 
risk nor a risk of absconding''.
    In direct violation of the intent and spirit of the law, Secretary 
Mayorkas has overseen the abuse of parole authority under such section 
212(d)(5)(A). At the direction of Secretary Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection has unlawfully used this authority to triage 
overcrowded processing facilities, releasing aliens into the interior 
of the United States without proper detention and vetting.
    According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, parole 
authority under such section 212(d)(5)(A) was used 268,268 times 
between October 2021 and November 2022, at the international land 
border with Mexico. This form of ``administrative catch-and-release'' 
has been carried out under the direct command of Secretary Mayorkas. 
Any law enforcement professional would know that massive abuses of 
parole authority are a clear threat to the safety and security of the 
American people. Aliens are being released without proper screening, 
enabling them to disappear into the United States with little hope that 
they will appear for immigration court proceedings. Secretary Mayorkas' 
broad application of parole authority clearly violates the ``case-by-
case'' standard outlined in such section 212(d)(5)(A).
    Secretary Mayorkas has demonstrated a blatant disregard for the 
statutory limits of the Immigration and Nationality Act. He has 
unlawfully abused his authorities and has willingly and maliciously 
released record numbers of illegal aliens into the United States, 
violating Federal law, undermining the sovereignty of the United 
States, and jeopardizing the security of the American citizenry.
    Wherefore, Secretary Mayorkas, by such conduct, thus warrants 
impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to 
hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United 
States.
                                 <all>