[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 16 (Monday, January 29, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H255-H256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT/BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, this week, the House Committee on Homeland 
Security is marking up Articles of Impeachment against Homeland 
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his stark dereliction of duty 
at our Nation's southern border.
  I believe that Secretary Mayorkas deserves to be impeached for his 
failures, and my intention is to vote in favor of his impeachment.
  That said, it is because of House Republicans' commitment to 
restoring regular order that we have now reached this critical 
juncture. Regular order has allowed the Homeland Security Committee to 
conclude its investigation into Secretary Mayorkas and move at an 
expedited pace in its consideration of these Articles of Impeachment.
  It is well known that I voted to refer the impeachment process to 
this committee. Regular order can and should be followed, especially on 
such an important issue as this.
  What has come to light now is that the vote to refer these articles 
to the Homeland Security Committee expedited the process by giving that 
committee sole jurisdiction over the articles. That vote gave us the 
quickest possible timeline to move these Articles of Impeachment to the 
Senate where a conviction can and should be affirmed.
  We must also acknowledge that regular order has also preserved 
precious taxpayer dollars that would have otherwise been wasted if the 
Committee's investigation had been immediately cut short.
  Mr. Speaker, while we are on the topic of the southern border, let me 
address the Senate's secret border deal.
  The President has claimed that he needs Congress to pass legislation 
to empower him to secure the southern border. That is patently false. 
Congress has no such obligation to do so.
  President Biden has always had the authority to enact measures at the 
southern border to deter illegal aliens from entering our country: 
ending catch and release; ceasing exploitation of parole authority; 
reinstating the remain in Mexico program; expanding the use of 
expedited removal authority; renewing construction of the border wall.
  Let's not forget about what authority is granted to the President 
under the Immigration and Nationality Act as well: ``Whenever the 
President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens 
into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the 
United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall 
deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens 
as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any 
restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.''
  Again, the President already has the authority to secure the southern 
border. Even in precedent set by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii, 
the President can make ``decisions whether and when to suspend entry, 
whose entry to suspend, for how long, and on what conditions.''
  Mr. Speaker, President Biden is acting as if Congress has tied his 
hands

[[Page H256]]

and the only way he can secure the border is with more congressional 
approval.
  The truth is that President Biden has been sitting on his own hands 
for months on end. Perhaps he should take a long, hard look in the 
mirror.

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