[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 66 (Thursday, April 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1306-S1307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 169--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT 
  SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY ALEJANDRO NICHOLAS MAYORKAS DOES NOT 
    HAVE THE CONFIDENCE OF THE SENATE OR OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO 
             FAITHFULLY CARRY OUT THE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE

  Mr. MARSHALL (for himself, Mr. Braun, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Cruz, Mr. 
Hawley, Mr. Risch, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Schmitt, Mr. Johnson, Ms. 
Lummis, Mr. Lee, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Vance, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Budd) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:

                              S. Res. 169

       Whereas while serving as Secretary of Homeland Security, 
     Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, in violation of his 
     constitutional oath, has engaged in a pattern of conduct that 
     is incompatible with his constitutional and statutory duties 
     as Secretary of Homeland Security, including by--
       (1) failing to ``take all actions the Secretary determines 
     necessary and appropriate to achieve and maintain operational 
     control over the entire international land and maritime 
     borders of the United States'', as required under section 
     2(a) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (8 U.S.C. 1701 note), 
     which includes ``the prevention of all unlawful entries into 
     the United States, including entries by terrorists, other 
     unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and 
     other contraband'', as evidenced by--
       (A) more than 5,500,000 illegal aliens crossing the United 
     States southern border during Secretary Mayorkas' term in 
     office, including aliens encountered by U.S. Customs and 
     Border Protection and known got-aways, and 20 consecutive 
     months with more than 150,000 illegal border crossings;
       (B) the apprehension of 98 individuals that match records 
     within the Terrorist Screening Database at the southern 
     border during fiscal year 2022, which is more such 
     apprehensions than occurred during the previous 5 years 
     combined, and the apprehension of 80 such individuals during 
     fiscal year 2023 to date, which may lead to a higher rate of 
     apprehensions of such individuals during fiscal year 2023 
     than took place during fiscal year 2022; and
       (C) the failure of the Department of Homeland Security, 
     under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas, to comply with 
     provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
     1101 et seq.), which require the detention of inadmissible 
     aliens arriving in the United States or aliens who are 
     physically present in the United States without inspection 
     until processed, and the implementation by Secretary Mayorkas 
     of unlawful and misguided catch-and-release directives, such 
     as the Notice to Report process and the parole plus 
     Alternatives to Detention process, which have resulted in the 
     reckless release of more than 1,000,000 illegal aliens into 
     the interior of the United States; and
       (2) gravely endangering the national security of the United 
     States, undermining the operational control of our southern 
     border, and encouraging illegal immigration by--
       (A) terminating contracts for additional border wall 
     construction for which Congress appropriated funding; and
       (B) issuing memoranda rescinding the Migrant Protection 
     Protocols (commonly known as ``Remain in Mexico''), which was 
     an indispensable tool to address the border crisis and 
     restore integrity to the immigration system;
       Whereas Secretary Mayorkas, in the memorandum announcing 
     the termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols program 
     (MPP) on June 1, 2021, acknowledged, ``some removal 
     proceedings conducted pursuant to MPP were completed more 
     expeditiously than is typical for non-detained cases'';
       Whereas Federal authorities seized more than 14,000 pounds 
     of illicit fentanyl along the southwest border during fiscal 
     year 2022 and 13,800 pounds of illicit fentanyl during fiscal 
     year 2023 to date, which is evidence of increased efforts by 
     transnational criminal organizations to traffic dangerous 
     substances into the United States;
       Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug 
     overdoses in 2021, which exceeds the number of such deaths in 
     any previous year, and \2/3\ of such deaths were caused by 
     synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl);
       Whereas under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas, the 
     Department of Homeland Security formally opposed efforts to 
     keep in place the order of suspension issued by the Director 
     of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under 
     section 362 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 265) 
     as a result of the public health emergency relating to the 
     COVID-19 pandemic (commonly known as the ``title 42 order'') 
     in order to prevent a crisis on the southern border;
       Whereas with the termination of the title 42 order, the 
     Department of Homeland Security is planning to reroute asylum 
     and parole applicants through the CBP One mobile application 
     and formal parole programs in order to obscure border 
     encounter numbers;
       Whereas on multiple occasions while serving as Secretary of 
     Homeland Security, Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, in violation 
     of his constitutional oath, has willfully provided 
     perjurious, or false and misleading testimony to Congress, 
     including--
       (1) on April 28, 2022, during a hearing of the Committee on 
     the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, by responding 
     to Congressman Chip Roy's question, ``Will you testify

[[Page S1307]]

     under oath that we have operational control of the border?'', 
     with ``Yes we do'', despite the fact that, the term 
     ``operational control'' has been defined in law 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''; 
     and
       (2) on November 15, 2022, during a hearing of the Committee 
     on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, by 
     responding to Congressman Dan Bishop's question, ``Do you 
     continue to maintain that the border is secure?'', with 
     ``Yes, and we are working day in and day out to enhance 
     security, Congressman.'';
       Whereas section 1621 of title 18, United States Code, 
     clearly states that anyone under oath who ``willfully and 
     contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material 
     matter which he does not believe to be true'' is guilty of 
     perjury and shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 5 
     years, or both;
       Whereas the record-breaking number of illegal alien 
     encounters, including more 1,000,000 known ``got-aways'', and 
     the record seizures of deadly fentanyl and other contraband, 
     confirm that Secretary Mayorkas has not taken all actions 
     necessary to ensure operational control of the southern 
     border, as required by law;
       Whereas U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, in a field 
     hearing before the Committee on Homeland Security of the 
     House of Representatives, stated that U.S. Border Patrol does 
     not have operational control of the border, which directly 
     contradicts Secretary Mayorkas' April 2022 testimony to the 
     Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives;
       Whereas in September 2021, while Alejandro Nicholas 
     Mayorkas was serving as Secretary of Homeland Security--
       (1) approximately 15,000 Haitian migrants crossed the 
     border from Mexico into the United States and were 
     concentrated in an encampment underneath the international 
     bridge between Mexico and the Del Rio, Texas, Port of Entry 
     and in surrounding areas;
       (2) mounted Border Patrol agents and troopers with the 
     Texas Department of Public Safety dispersed a large group of 
     migrants gathered near a boat ramp located in the United 
     States along the Rio Grande River, approximately 500 yards 
     east of the Del Rio Port of Entry and then attempted to stop 
     the flow of all migrants illegally crossing the Rio Grande 
     River into the United States at that location;
       (3) within hours of the incident described in paragraph 
     (2)--
       (A) images and video surfaced on social media that showed 
     multiple Border Patrol agents on horseback using their horses 
     to keep several illegal immigrants from entering the United 
     States after crossing the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas;
       (B) extremist liberal activists rushed to judgement and 
     falsely accused the agents of whipping the illegal immigrants 
     with their horse reins, in spite of a statement by the 
     photographer that the pictures were misconstrued as showing 
     abusive behavior; and
       (C) some activists made the disgusting false equivalency to 
     slavery; and
       (4) Secretary Mayorkas, after Assistant Secretary of 
     Homeland Security for Public Affairs Marsha Espinosa emailed 
     to him a news article explaining that the photographer who 
     took the images did not see the agents whipping anyone--
       (A) misled the general public by publicly supporting the 
     Biden administration's false narrative that Border Patrol 
     agents whipped Haitian migrants;
       (B) participated in a White House press conference during 
     which he publicly and falsely slandered the Border Patrol 
     agents referred to in paragraph (2), calling the images 
     ``horrifying'' and an example of ``systemic racism'';
       Whereas a 511-page report by the U.S. Customs and Border 
     Protection's Office of Personal Responsibility found ``no 
     evidence that [Border Patrol agents] involved in this 
     incident struck, intentionally or otherwise, any migrant with 
     their reins'';
       Whereas the National Border Patrol Council, which is the 
     labor union representing Border Patrol agents and support 
     staff, is considering supporting the impeachment of Secretary 
     Mayorkas;
       Whereas the actions of Secretary Mayorkas' department have 
     encouraged foreign nationals to attempt to illegally enter 
     the United States at historic levels, as evidenced by 251,012 
     enforcement encounters along the southern border in December 
     2022, which is the highest number of encounters ever recorded 
     in a single month;
       Whereas a major component of these failed immigration 
     enforcement policies is the Department of Homeland Security's 
     disregard for its responsibility to enforce Federal 
     immigration laws, including Secretary Mayorkas' abuse of 
     discretion in granting humanitarian parole, which, according 
     to section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality 
     Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A), is only to be used on a ``case-
     by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant 
     public benefit'', and has been used by Secretary Mayorkas' 
     department to grant parole en masse on multiple occasions, 
     including new ``Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, 
     and Venezuelans'', which was announced in October 2022 and 
     expanded in January 2023;
       Whereas the policies of the Department of Homeland 
     Security, under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas, have 
     encouraged increased numbers of unaccompanied migrant 
     children to enter the United States during the 2-year period 
     immediately preceding the date on which this resolution was 
     introduced, with large numbers of such children revealed by 
     the New York Times to have been forced into dangerous jobs in 
     violations of child labor laws;
       Whereas on March 28, 2023, Ranking Member Senator Lindsey 
     Graham, during a hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary of 
     the Senate, pointed out that under Secretary Mayorkas' 
     watch--
       (1) the southern border of the United States ``has gone 
     from the lowest illegal crossings in December 2020 to all-
     time highs with over 2,000,000 last fiscal year'';
       (2) ``fentanyl is coming in at a pace we have never seen''; 
     and
       (3) ``more terrorists on the watch list are coming than any 
     time since we've been measuring these things'';
       Whereas during the same hearing, Senator Josh Hawley--
       (1) compared the CBP One mobile application used to 
     schedule appointments and request humanitarian parole and 
     asylum to ``a concierge service for illegal immigrants''; and
       (2) commented to Secretary Mayorkas, ``rather than building 
     a wall, Mr. Secretary, you have built Ticketmaster for 
     illegal immigrants''; and
       Whereas during the same hearing--
       (1) Secretary Mayorkas told Senator Ted Cruz that he did 
     not recognize wristbands abandoned along the border, which 
     cartels commonly use for human smuggling and trafficking and 
     which act as a sort of registration system, with different 
     colors and patterns denoting the cartel responsible, how many 
     times a person has attempted to cross, and how much they owe 
     to the cartel; and
       (2) Senator Cruz replied in frustration to Senator Mayorkas 
     by calling him incompetent and telling him, ``If you had 
     integrity, you would resign.'':
       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,
        That it is the sense of the Senate that Secretary 
     Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas no longer holds the confidence of 
     the Senate or of the American people to faithfully carry out 
     his duties as Secretary of Homeland Security.

                          ____________________