[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 19 (Tuesday, February 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S216-S217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote on Alejandro 
Mayorkas, President Biden's nominee to be Secretary of Homeland 
Security.
  Up to this point, I have voted in favor of the President's mainstream 
nominees to key posts. I will have my differences with Secretaries 
Austin, Yellen, and Blinken on policy, but they were mainstream choices 
from the President.
  Mr. Mayorkas is something else. He does not deserve Senate 
confirmation to lead Homeland Security. Frankly, his record should 
foreclose confirmation even to a lower post. The problem isn't 
experience--not exactly. Mr. Mayorkas is all too familiar with the 
levers of power that control U.S. immigration law. The problem is when 
he is chosen to pull those levers--and for whose benefit.
  As a high-ranking official in the Obama administration, Mr. Mayorkas 
did his best to turn U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services into an 
unethical favor factory for Democratic Party royalty. Governors, a DNC 
chair, Hollywood executives, a Senate majority leader from Nevada--they 
all received special treatment to a degree that stunned and disturbed 
the Obama administration's own inspector general over at that 
Department. His independent report blasted the ``appearance of 
favoritism and special access.'' We are talking about shoving through 
green cards as political favors and intervening to overturn denials. 
The IG confirmed this wasn't just about speed; Mr. Mayorkas's improper 
influence actually changed outcomes.
  This wasn't the first time this nominee abused an office for 
political purposes. Before his tenure at DHS, while U.S. attorney, the 
nominee had helped his fellow California Democrats get a well-connected 
L.A. drug kingpin onto President Clinton's infamous eleventh-hour 
pardons list. The drug dealer's father was a Democratic Party donor. 
Mysteriously, several notable California Democrats took an extremely 
keen interest in the case. Both Mr. Mayorkas and yet another one of 
President Biden's nominees, Mr. Becerra, came under scrutiny for their 
personal roles in the special treatment that was dished out to this 
donor's son.
  When questioned about these actions, Mr. Mayorkas responded with 
false and conflicting statements, including while under oath. Reviews 
of USCIS under Mr. Mayorkas found intimidation and retaliation against 
employees when they were too focused on rooting out fraud instead of 
merely rubberstamping applications. According to some of his own 
employees, his leadership led to ``a culture of fear and disrespect.''
  Does this sound like somebody who deserves a promotion?
  Employees reported Mr. Mayorkas viewed the people applying to live 
here as the Agency's ``customers,'' whom it was their job to please and 
satisfy. They said the crucial goal that defined his approach was not 
enforcing American laws, protecting American jobs, or defending the 
American homeland, but rather ensuring there were ``zero complaints'' 
from the customers.

[[Page S217]]

  I will close with one observation. Last week, I heard the Democratic 
leader compare the confirmation timelines for Mr. Mayorkas versus Gen. 
John Kelly--an ethically compromised partisan lawyer versus a retired 
four-star general whom the Senate confirmed 88 to 11. The contrast 
could not be sharper. For one thing, I would say Secretary Kelly 
understood that our customers, first and foremost, are always the 
American people. It is, frankly, remarkable that someone with his 
record is even up for a Cabinet appointment.
  I will be voting against this confirmation and urge our colleagues to 
do the same.

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