[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 59 (Monday, April 8, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2637-S2642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Mayorkas Impeachment

  Mr. BRAUN. Mr. President, I come to the floor this evening because we 
have some serious business ahead of us soon.
  For Laken Riley, Ruby Garcia, and the countless Americans who have 
died from fentanyl, the Senate must hold a full impeachment trial for 
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Secretary Mayorkas is breaking the law 
every day he releases illegal immigrants into the United States. The 
Department of Homeland Security is required under law to detain these 
immigrants. Biden and Mayorkas's catch-and-release policy releases 
illegal aliens into the United States without even issuing a notice to 
appear for immigration proceedings.
  Secretary Mayorkas is the most important player in President Biden's 
open border agenda, but we must first remember it is the President who 
is calling the shots. President Biden took the actions that opened our 
border. On day one, he personally stopped construction of the wall. He 
alone signed

[[Page S2638]]

the Executive order to allow illegals to be counted in the census to 
decide how large congressional districts are. This is a direct attack 
on our most important democratic institution. It was President Biden 
who ended the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, leading to millions released 
into our communities.
  It was a criminal coward who killed Laken Riley, but it was President 
Biden and Secretary Mayorkas who welcomed him into the country. It was 
sanctuary city policies that kept him here. Laken Riley's death was a 
complete failure of our government to protect our own citizens. Yet not 
one person has lost a job due to it.
  It is no wonder President Biden's allies want to sweep this 
impeachment under the rug and break the rules of the Senate by failing 
to hold an impeachment trial.
  Every Senator must stand up for the American people and vote down the 
motion to kill the impeachment trial. The American people deserve to 
hear the truth of how President Joe Biden opened their country's 
borders to the world and the American lives lost because of it.
  I will be voting to hold a full impeachment trial of Secretary 
Alejandro Mayorkas. If a full trial does not happen, he has clearly 
lost the faith of the American people to protect our borders and he 
should resign immediately and President Biden should be held 
accountable by the American public this November.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, I rise to bring attention to the matter 
of grave importance to the Senate. My friend and colleague from Indiana 
just spoke about this just a few minutes ago. We are going to be 
delivered Articles of Impeachment to this Chamber, which is a very 
important role that the Senate plays in our constitutional structure, 
our constitutional order. All of us are sworn in as jurors. This is a 
solemn act. We swear when we take our oath that we will abide by the 
Constitution, we will protect the Constitution. This is something we 
are supposed to do.
  Politically speaking, Secretary Mayorkas has been a disaster. If you 
could have a Mount Rushmore of worst Cabinet members in the history of 
the United States of America, he would be on that Mount Rushmore. 
Legally speaking, he has undermined the laws of the United States.
  But before we get there, we actually have to have a trial. In no 
instance in the history of this great Republic--in 240-plus years--has 
this body, the world's greatest deliberative body ever, in the history 
of our country, dismissed or tabled Articles of Impeachment for someone 
who is still serving in office or alive. Let me repeat that: It has 
never happened.
  To quote my colleague from New York who often says this: History is 
watching. Chuck Schumer, history is watching, because 200 years from 
now, God willing, in this Republic, people will be in our chairs. We 
don't know their names. They will be referring back to the precedent 
that is set in this Chamber to go down a road we have never gone down.
  Vote how you want to vote based on the evidence, your point of view. 
Vote how you want to vote. But the idea that we would be setting this 
very dangerous precedent because Chuck Schumer doesn't want it in the 
news cycle for a couple of days is ridiculous. For my friends on both 
sides of the aisle that care about this place, this is, perhaps, the 
most dangerous act you could inflict upon us, short of blowing up the 
filibuster, to say that we are not going to hear the evidence; that we 
are not going to vote as Senators because we are afraid of a news 
cycle, which, by the way, would highlight the total and utter disaster 
that happens at our border.
  Mr. President, 9 million people have come across illegally. I rise to 
point out just one aspect of that that is incredibly dangerous for this 
country--the number of Chinese nationals that are coming here. There 
have been 22,233 encounters of Chinese nationals crossing illegally at 
the northern and southern borders so far in fiscal year 2024. There 
were 24,125 encounters last year. To put that scale in perspective, 
there were just 342 apprehensions of Chinese nationals in 1987 and 
fiscal year 2022. That is a dramatic increase.
  They are our greatest adversary. The 21st century will be defined by 
who wins this great power struggle. And if you don't think--there have 
been documented cases--that some of these folks are coming here to spy 
on us, including military installations, I have some oceanfront 
property in Missouri I would like to sell you.
  Secretary Mayorkas, in his own memo, advocated for ignoring U.S. law. 
This is a big deal. Again, regardless of how you feel about how you are 
going to vote on this, my point of view is: There is a lot of evidence 
that could be presented and will be presented to show that he has 
purposefully undermined the sovereignty of the United States of 
America. That is a serious charge. The House of Representatives has 
voted to send that here. Let's hear it out. Let's do our constitutional 
duty. Let's not be afraid to do our jobs.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, make no mistake about it, a vote to 
block the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is a vote to keep our 
borders open. It is a vote to continue the deadly track of lawlessness. 
It is a vote that tells Laken Riley's family and all those who have 
been victims of violent and gruesome crimes at the hands of illegal 
aliens, as well as the over 250,000 people who have died from fentanyl 
poisoning--what it says is the Democrats don't care.
  Ask any American and they will tell you that every State is now a 
border State. We don't feel safe in our own communities. From inner 
cities to suburbs and throughout rural America, we are living in the 
consequences of this wide-open southern border. So it should come as no 
surprise to my colleagues across the aisle that Americans are demanding 
accountability. They want to know why the cartel has more control of 
our border than the DHS does.
  Disgracefully, this week, we will witness a complete political 
charade that undermines this Chamber's responsibility and the oath we 
swore to protect this great Nation. Skirting justice, accountability in 
the very fabric of our democracy, the Senate Democratic leader has 
taken a historical measure to heighten the deadly border crisis his 
party has created and embraced.
  And why, you might ask, would they do this? They are so afraid that 
if Americans witnessed an open trial of Secretary Mayorkas and his 
record was exposed, it would seal the deal on the Democratic Party 
losing the White House and the majority of the Senate. They are very 
clearly worried about the next election and not the national security 
threat our wide-open borders pose to the sovereignty of our Nation.
  My hope here today is that America is watching. They will see the 
Senate Democrats line up to block the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas 
and prevent his record from ever enduring a public trial.
  But make no mistake about this. Come November, the good people from 
Montana and Ohio, from Michigan and Wisconsin, from Pennsylvania and 
Nevada will make their voices heard and hold their Senators 
accountable. These Democrats had the opportunity this week to address 
the border crisis and send a clear message to the White House to 
address our most immediate national security threat and close the 
border now. Unfortunately, they won't stand up. They will not allow the 
American people to see the true lawlessness that has been the direct 
result of the abject failures of Secretary Mayorkas. Their silence will 
send a clear message to the thousands of families that have been torn 
apart by the consequences of our wide-open border. They simply don't 
care.
  My colleagues across the aisle don't want answers. They want to 
shield Secretary Mayorkas and the White House from any accountability 
and spare their party from the backlash in the press when Senate 
Republicans outline how dire the situation at our Nation's border is.
  In orchestrating this cover-up, they are willing to undermine our 
Constitution and disrespect the honor and integrity of the impeachment 
process that has been observed and held fast by this body for over 200 
years.
  In our Nation's history, the Senate has never tabled an impeachment 
trial. That alone should tell every American

[[Page S2639]]

how scared Senate Democrats are to share the true realities of the 
lawlessness happening right now at our borders across the United 
States. Secretary Mayorkas has failed his duty to protect our borders 
and uphold our laws.
  We have 11 million reasons to hold him accountable and impeach him. 
That is the 11 million encounters, including nearly 2 million ``got-
aways'' who have shown up here on our soil under Mayorkas's watch. He 
is not just derelict in his duties, he is complicit in endangering the 
safety of every American.
  Yes, we understand the Democratic majority has the votes to table 
this hearing. But know this: History will not be so forgiving of this 
decision. The American people will not forget the betrayal of this 
Chamber and their family's safety. Come November, we the people will 
speak loudly. The people, the citizens of this great Republic, they are 
the true judges and the final jury.
  So, please, to my colleagues across the aisle, there is still time to 
do the right thing: to vote in support of holding Secretary Mayorkas 
accountable. The American people will be watching. We must impeach 
Secretary Mayorkas for his failure to uphold his oath. If this Chamber 
skirts its responsibility, we shall hold every one of the Senators who 
block this impeachment trial accountable at the ballot box.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BUDD. Madam President, in order to be a strong Nation, we have to 
have strong borders. Right now, we don't have that. We haven't had that 
for 3 years. I talk with sheriffs from all over all of North Carolina--
100 counties--and many of them tell me the same things over and over: 
Every single county is now a border county because of Joe Biden's 
policies. And those policies have been implemented by his Secretary of 
Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. From the very beginning of his 
tenure at DHS, Secretary Mayorkas has intentionally undermined security 
at the southern border again and again and again.
  I have a list right here. Now, I know I have limited time, but let's 
try and run through some of the worst examples. On February 1, 2021, 
DHS implemented a policy requiring ``alternatives to removal including, 
but not limited to, staying or reopening cases, alternative forms of 
detention, custodial detention, whether to grant temporary deferred 
action, or other appropriate action.'' This telegraphed the 
Department's complete unwillingness to enforce the law and to detain 
illegal aliens.
  On March 20, 2021, the Mayorkas DHS began issuing illegal border 
crossers a Notice to Report to U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement, as opposed to the standard notice to appear. The notice to 
report policy allows illegal aliens to simply be released into the 
United States, and it relies on them to self-report to ICE at a later 
date. Now, this, ladies and gentlemen, marked the return of catch-and-
release.
  On July of 2021, the Mayorkas DHS released at least 50,000 aliens 
without giving them a notice to appear at all. They were advised to 
self-report to ICE on their own. To the shock of no one, 87 percent of 
them didn't even report.
  On August 17, 2021, the Mayorkas DHS announced an expansion of 
alternatives to detention. It announced the expansion of taxpayer-
funded services to illegal aliens in removal proceedings. This further 
supercharged the policy of catch-and-release.
  On August 31, 2021, the Biden administration disclosed that they 
released over 100,000 aliens into the United States without giving them 
a notice to appear.
  Again, they were asked to self-report to ICE on their own. Nearly 
half of them didn't check in with ICE within the 60-day deadline. On 
September 30, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued a memo stating that ``the 
fact an individual is a removable [alien] should [not be the sole] 
basis of an enforcement action.''
  This is willful misuse of prosecutorial discretion, and it 
effectively gave deportable aliens a path to stay in the United States.
  On October 8, 2021, the Mayorkas DHS canceled another large group of 
border wall contracts related to the Laredo and Rio Grande Valley 
border sectors.
  On October 27, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued another memo 
prohibiting enforcement of immigration laws in the following areas--now 
listen to these: schools, healthcare facilities, recreational areas, 
social service facilities, ceremonial locations, as well as at 
demonstrations and at political rallies.
  On October 29, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas formally terminated the 
``Remain in Mexico'' policy, inviting illegal aliens to America's 
doorstep.
  I could go on, but the bottom line is that this is nothing short of a 
dereliction of duty on the part of Secretary Mayorkas. He must be held 
accountable, and that is why he was the second Cabinet Secretary in 
American history ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives.
  The U.S. Senate has a constitutional duty to take these charges 
seriously and to conduct a full trial on the merits. To do anything 
less would be an insult to the victims of these open-border policies.
  We can't wait. Too many people are suffering. Too many people are 
dying. We must say enough.
  This administration must face accountability for causing the worst 
border crisis in American history. Now is the time to act.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, a lot of history has unfolded in this 
room. The U.S. Senate has been home to some of the most formative 
debates in our Nation's tenure. These are fierce arguments among 
passionate, intelligent people. It is not all that different from the 
debates today.
  The Senate has always welcomed these sometimes intense disagreements 
by respecting the rules and the traditions of the institution. It is 
how a Senator like me, who is a Member of the minority party, can stand 
here and speak freely about the issues that matter to the American 
people and to the people of Louisiana.
  Now, my Democratic colleagues in the Senate, today, may be about to 
make some new history in this room. Apparently, they think it is a 
brave new world, and they want to set a dangerous new precedent. For 
the very first time, Senate Democrats are seeking to table--maybe even 
dismiss--an impeachment of a sitting Cabinet official without even 
holding a trial. They are summoning spirits they won't be able to 
control.
  Please, my colleagues, don't do it.
  I fear though that Senate Democrats are going to try to take the 
Articles of Impeachment that our colleagues in the U.S. House of 
Representatives thoughtfully crafted and passed with a majority vote 
and toss them into the trash without hearing from either side.
  They don't want to let the House impeachment managers make their 
case. They don't want to let Secretary Mayorkas make his case. They 
just want to ignore the House's evidence, summarily sweep it under the 
rug, and move on. And that is wrong.
  The Senate has never in its history tabled an impeachment--never. In 
the more than 200 years that this body has existed, the House of 
Representatives has impeached an official 21 times, and we have never 
once tabled the impeachment--not once.
  Now, Senator Schumer may also try to dismiss these charges instead of 
tabling them, but that has never been done before, either. If the 
Senate dismisses these charges without a trial, it will be the first 
time in the Senate's long history that it has dismissed impeachment 
charges against an official it has jurisdiction over without that 
official first resigning. And that is a fact.
  I want you to consider this: The U.S. House of Representatives has 
voted to impeach an official 21 times--only 21 times--in our long 
history. The U.S. Senate has only dismissed 3 of those cases--3 out of 
21.
  Now, why did they dismiss them? In two of those cases, the impeached 
official chose to resign instead of facing a trial. As a result, the 
Senate dismissed the charges. In this case, Secretary Mayorkas has not 
resigned. In one of those dismissed cases, the impeached official was a 
U.S. Senator, and the Senate concluded that the Constitution did not 
give it jurisdiction to remove a

[[Page S2640]]

U.S. Senator through the impeachment process.
  Here, everyone agrees that the Constitution gives Congress the power 
to impeach and remove a sitting Cabinet Secretary.
  Now, listen to me carefully on this. The U.S. Senate has the right 
and the responsibility to hold this trial. Yet Senate Democrats want to 
ignore our Chamber's history and forfeit our constitutional authority 
by tabling or dismissing these charges without even considering the 
evidence--without even considering the evidence.
  Americans need to hear what I am about to say, even if my Democratic 
colleagues won't listen. Let me say it again: A majority of the duly 
elected Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, who represent all 
of the communities across America, spent months investigating the 
allegations against Secretary Mayorkas. They spent months drafting the 
Articles of Impeachment, and a majority of the House then voted yes to 
bring two very serious charges.
  The Senate Democrats are now treating those charges--those Articles 
of Impeachment--like spam that landed in their inbox.
  Americans, however, are not nearly so sanguine about the border 
crisis that has brought death, drugs, violence, chaos, criminals, and 
mayhem into their neighborhoods. The Biden administration's border 
crisis is as unprecedented as the majority leader's move to bury the 
evidence of who could be to blame here.
  I, for one, want to hear the House's evidence, and so do the American 
people. The majority leader's move is unprecedented. It is 
undemocratic. And I am confident that my Democratic colleagues, if they 
do this--please, don't--but if they do it, will regret this new 
precedent when they find themselves in the minority, just as they 
regretted breaking the Senate precedent for confirming judicial 
nominees.
  You see, Republicans do not like to break precedent when we are in 
the majority. We respect the traditions of this Chamber because we 
respect the voters who sent all 100 of us here.
  If my Democratic colleagues set a new precedent that tramples the 
rights of the minority party and silences the voices of the Americans 
who elected them--if they do that--Senate Democrats will have to own 
that decision and bear its consequences.
  Now, I have listened to the loon wing of the Democratic Party spend 
the better part of the past decade making passionate speeches about how 
important it is to protect democracy, to uphold the rule of law, and 
they are right. President Biden even ran his campaign on the idea of 
``restoring our norms,'' as he called it, and ``defending democracy.'' 
Apparently though, the rules of the loon wing were of the ``for thee 
and not for me'' variety. Whenever protecting democracy and upholding 
the rule of law becomes politically challenging, the loon wing has been 
happy to ignore the rule of law and the will of the people. Isn't that 
special?
  Their political expedience is in full view today, but it is not the 
first time that their cynicism has reared its ugly Democratic head.
  I am sure, Madam President, you will remember. I will give you just 
two examples. The loon wing spent several years promoting a conspiracy 
that the Trump campaign was an arm of the Kremlin, despite no objective 
evidence to tie President Trump to Russia. Democrats and several 
members of the national security community rushed to dismiss any 
information found on Mr. Hunter Biden's laptop as ``Russian 
misinformation,'' despite not having any objective evidence, as we now 
know, to make that claim. And those are just two of many examples that 
I could give.
  Secretary Mayorkas' impeachment may be the best example of this 
hypocrisy to date. The same Senate Democrats who have shouted for years 
about defending democracy and upholding the rule of law seem ready to 
disregard serious impeachment charges without so much as a second 
glance. These Senators, if they do that, won't just be silencing the 
House of Representatives. They will be silencing the American people--
the American people who want their border's security back.
  You can pick any poll--any one you want--and you will find President 
Biden's approval rating on the issue of immigration and border security 
is on a journey to the center of the Earth. A recent Associated Press 
poll, for example, found that more than two-thirds of Americans--69 
percent of Americans--disapprove of how the Biden administration is 
handling border security.
  I can't imagine that these same Americans would approve of Democrats' 
refusal to even hear the evidence that Americans see play out in their 
communities every day.
  This poll is only surprising if you peaked in high school. Under 
President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, the southern border has become 
an open, bleeding wound. It has become a cesspool of misery. Drug 
trafficking, human trafficking, sexual abuse of women, sexual abuse of 
children, drowning, dehydration, widespread illnesses, death--all have 
become commonplace.
  In total, the Border Patrol has encountered illegal immigrants at the 
southern border more than 9 million times since President Biden took 
office. That is four Nebraskas. The Biden administration has failed to 
remove 99 percent of foreign nationals that it has released into this 
country.
  The backlog of immigrant court cases has doubled under the Biden 
administration's watch. These foreign nationals have overwhelmed 
American cities. Instead of investing in American citizens, cities 
throughout the country are raising taxes. They are cutting programs to 
fund prepaid debit cards for migrants.
  America's children have to stay home from school because Democratic 
officials turned their classrooms into housing units. Democratic 
leaders in New York City, Chicago, Denver, Houston, and Los Angeles 
have begged the Biden administration to do something to curb the flow 
of unvetted people into their cities.
  Of course, it is not just people flowing illegally over that border; 
cartels have flooded the United States with poisonous fentanyl over 
that border, too. Customs and Border Protection seized nearly 53,000 
pounds of fentanyl from 2021 to 2023--not 53,000 grams, 53,000 pounds. 
That is enough to kill the entire population of our planet. This poison 
actually did kill more than 70,000 Americans in 2022. It is now the 
leading cause of death among Americans 18 to 40.
  The Biden administration's border policies bring Americans nothing 
but suffering. If you hate America, however, the Biden border strategy 
has been a blessing. Cartels' smuggling operations saw revenues 
increase from $500 million in 2012 to $12 billion--that is ``b'' as in 
``billion''--in 2022.
  The policies that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have 
implemented are directly responsible for this disaster at our southern 
border. At every turn, the Biden administration has ignored the laws of 
this land and this Congress and the will of the American people to 
facilitate their own broken border security policies.
  The House has detailed several examples in their Articles of 
Impeachment, and we ought to hear their evidence.
  To start, the law requires that all foreign nationals who are not 
clearly admissible must be ``retained for a removal proceeding.'' 
Instead, Secretary Mayorkas established a catch-and-release--catch, 
release, repeat--a catch-and-release scheme that incentivized illegal 
immigrants to flood our country.
  The law also requires that law enforcement take an illegal immigrant 
who commits a crime or has ties to terrorism or both into Federal 
custody. That is the law. Yet Secretary Mayorkas told his Department 
not to follow that law regarding the ``mandatory arrest and detention'' 
of criminal aliens.
  Our law also says that law enforcement must detain illegal 
immigrants. Instead, Secretary Mayorkas has paroled them wholesale by 
the thousands into our country, where they could catch a bus or a plane 
to any unsuspecting community they desire. Not only that, Secretary 
Mayorkas even gave them the money to do it.
  Secretary Mayorkas killed the ``Remain in Mexico'' program. He 
quashed contracts to build a border wall. He ended the safe third 
country agreements that allowed America to work with other countries to 
find protection for migrants in need.
  By tabling or dismissing the Articles of Impeachment without so much 
as a

[[Page S2641]]

trial, my Senate Democratic colleagues will be endorsing the Biden 
administration's lawless approach to the southern border. They will be 
setting a precedent that the next administration can ignore the laws of 
Congress and the will of the American people too.
  Impeachment matters. It is an important check we have on the 
executive branch, and we have an obligation to take it seriously. We 
have an obligation to give any charges brought the full trial they 
deserve.
  I am going to have a resolution, if I am allowed to present it, that 
will give the procedures we need to conduct this trial fairly and 
efficiently. I will be bringing that at the appropriate time. It will 
be efficient. It will be fair. It will be honest. It won't uproot the 
longstanding precedent we have given to Articles of Impeachment in the 
past.
  If the majority leader and my Democratic colleagues table or dismiss 
these charges and destroy Senate precedent--precedent that we have 
established to conduct full and fair impeachment trials--they will 
regret it. They will regret it. Senate Democrats, if they do that, will 
show the world that their proclamations about rule of law and 
protecting democracy are just tools of their own political experience 
and arrogance. Senate Democrats will let the American people know that 
they endorse the lawlessness and the misery the Biden administration's 
broken border has brought to this country.
  I don't think Americans' future should be beholden to the politics of 
the moment, and that is why I want the Senate to do its job and hear 
this evidence.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I want to make one thing clear 
to my Democrat colleagues: Your attempt to brush Secretary Mayorkas's 
impeachment trial under the rug is disgusting and unacceptable. It is 
truly unprecedented, violates Senate rules, and is possibly 
unconstitutional.
  The House of Representatives adopted two Articles of Impeachment 
against Secretary Mayorkas. Let me quote for you:

       Throughout his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, 
     Alejandro N. Mayorkas has repeatedly violated laws enacted by 
     Congress regarding immigration and border security. In large 
     part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have 
     illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with 
     many unlawfully remaining in the United States.
       Alejandro N. Mayorkas has knowingly made false statements, 
     and knowingly obstructed lawful oversight of the Department 
     of Homeland Security, principally to obfuscate the result of 
     his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.

  Now, it is the constitutional duty of the U.S. Senate to conduct an 
impeachment trial to determine if Secretary Mayorkas should be removed 
from office based on those Articles of Impeachment.
  I want to stress this again: Never in the history of the U.S. Senate 
has such a procedural move been attempted to completely avoid an 
impeachment trial.
  Senate Democrats' efforts to avoid fulfilling their constitutional 
duty to conduct this trial are just the latest attack by the left 
against our democratic process and institution. Senate Democrats want 
to eliminate the filibuster. They want to radically change the U.S. 
Supreme Court. Now they want to trash the impeachment process. This is 
a disturbing series of direct attacks on our democratic institutions.
  My colleagues and I have called on Senate leadership to conduct a 
trial. I have also personally called on Vice President Kamala Harris, 
urging her to fulfill her constitutional duty to serve as the presiding 
officer of Secretary Mayorkas's trial. Her appointment as President 
Biden's border czar only makes her role in the Mayorkas impeachment 
trial more critical.
  President Biden and his administration have created a crisis at our 
southern border. Secretary Mayorkas--a complete puppet for this lawless 
administration--has the audacity to come falsely testify before Senate 
and House committees that the border is secure. Not just once but 
multiple times Mayorkas has lied under oath in committee that our 
border is secure. He is lying to the American public. He is not taking 
the action needed to defend the homeland by securing the border or 
upholding the law. That is his job, and he is simply not doing it.
  Our Nation is reeling from the consequences of Mayorkas's failures. 
Our Nation is a more dangerous place because of Secretary Mayorkas's 
failures. He is allowing criminals, drugs, terrorists, and others into 
our communities. These are real consequences, and each victim has a 
name. Real Americans here to live their dream are being killed. Real 
American families are being torn apart by vicious crimes and deadly 
drugs because we have a wide-open border. Biden and Mayorkas refuse to 
enforce Federal law to secure the border, and innocent Americans like 
Laken Riley are paying the ultimate price for his failures.
  Ten million people--ten million people--have illegally crossed, and 6 
million have been let into our country. There have been sexual assaults 
and murders committed by illegal aliens all across the country--even 
Florida, where a young man was recently killed. The man charged for his 
death is an illegal alien.
  I don't get it. I do not understand why my Democrat colleagues don't 
care. They don't care about 70,000 people dying of fentanyl overdose. 
They don't care about vicious crimes. They don't care about terrorists 
being let go in our country. Senate Democrats are saying they simply do 
not care.
  They are using every power they have to ignore this crisis, while 
innocent Americans die, and keep Congress from holding Mayorkas 
accountable. The proof is not just in this disgraceful effort to 
dismiss the impeachment trial. Let's remember what Democrats voted 
against. Democrats voted against a bill to stop illegal aliens from 
getting on a commercial flight with no verifiable ID. Think about that. 
You have to have an ID; they don't. Democrats voted against deporting 
illegal aliens who hurt police, the people who are here to take care of 
us. Democrats voted against the Laken Riley Act, which simply 
requires--it is a simple act--simply requires ICE to take illegal 
aliens who commit crimes into custody before tragedy strikes.
  Does Biden hope that millions of immigrants will vote for him? Many 
in his party want to allow illegal immigrants to vote. They even voted 
to allow the census to keep counting illegal aliens. It is because they 
want sanctuary cities and States to have more electoral votes and 
representation in Congress--not from Americans but from illegal aliens. 
That is the future the Democrats want.
  Biden has intentionally dismantled every ounce of border security 
Trump put in place and completely undermined our immigration system, 
and Mayorkas has done absolutely nothing to stop it.
  Mayorkas has clearly been derelict in his duties. He has neglected to 
protect the homeland--his job. He has allowed criminals to come into 
our country, into each and all of our communities, drugs to flow into 
our country. When I talk to Floridians, they are terrified. They are 
concerned about their family's safety because of who and what are 
coming across the southern border and into each and all of our 
communities.
  Mayorkas may simply be a puppet for the administration, but he is 
fully responsible for his negligence and failure to do his job. 
Mayorkas needs to either resign or needs to have the full and thorough 
trial that we are constitutionally obligated to conduct, as the 
American people, through their representatives, voted for.
  We must have an administration and DHS Secretary who is willing to 
secure the border, not ignore failure that is killing our citizens.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, an invasion is taking place on American 
soil. Over 8 million people have crossed our border illegally since 
Mayorkas became Secretary, and the numbers just keep rising. They are 
not going away. This unprecedented, lawless influx includes gang 
members. It includes drug traffickers and dangerous individuals from 
every country in the world, including many thousands of military-age 
males from China. What could go wrong? In December alone, the 
Department of Homeland Security reported 302,000 encounters--in 1 
month. This is the highest month ever on record.

[[Page S2642]]

  To be clear, Secretary Mayorkas has the tools to stop the invasion 
today. He could do it right now if he wanted to. It is almost turnkey. 
It is abracadabra. If he decided to do it, we could have a secure 
border, and we would. Not only does he have the tools, but he has an 
obligation and a responsibility, an affirmative duty under the laws of 
the United States--laws that he agreed he would faithfully enforce.
  Let me say that again just to be very clear. Just by enforcing the 
laws currently on the books, he could bring our state of utter 
lawlessness on the border to a state of order.
  Secretary Mayorkas could bring a complete stop to the crisis. He 
doesn't need legislative action from Congress. This isn't a policy 
disagreement. No, it is a blatant defiance of the laws that are already 
on the books and have been for years.
  So to my colleagues: If you are so confident that the charges against 
Secretary Mayorkas are baseless, then why not hold a trial? Why try to 
just sweep this under the rug? You realize, don't you, that when you do 
that, all that does is just make you look more conscious of what is 
going on, of what is being done that is so very, very wrong--especially 
where, as here, it is such a departure from nearly two and a half 
centuries of this institution operating faithfully as a Court of 
Impeachment, nearly two and a half centuries in which we have had 21 
Articles of Impeachment destined for the Senate; at least 20 of those 
arrived. In 18 of those total of 21 cases during the Senate's 
existence, 18 of those 21 culminated in a trial resulting in a verdict 
of guilty or not guilty. Those other three involved cases that were 
rendered moot in between the time the House of Representatives adopted 
the Articles of Impeachment and the time they were presented over here. 
They were rendered moot because of the death or departure--a new 
vacancy in the office that had been occupied by the impeached official.
  So this isn't just an ordinary act of sweeping it under the rug. It 
is an act of sweeping it under the rug under the circumstances where 
sweeping it under the rug was never an option. It never has been. We 
haven't done it.
  This isn't just some invisible ``Casper the Friendly Ghost'' coming 
in to get rid of it. They are actively doing it, and they are doing it 
under the full view of the American people.
  The American people should be really upset by this, because Article I 
of the Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to 
impeach and the Senate the power to try all impeachments.
  Remember, the Senate has only three states of being--exactly three 
states of being: the legislative calendar, where we do a lot of our 
work, where we consider law; Executive Calendar, where we do things 
like confirm Presidential nominees and consider treaties for 
ratification; and the third state of being for the Senate is as a Court 
of Impeachment. We are always in one of those three states of being, 
and yet we have never operated in that third state of being unless the 
case has been rendered moot where the Senate doesn't hold a trial, as 
it is required to do under the Constitution, culminating in a verdict 
of guilty or not guilty.
  Now, if you trust that Secretary Mayorkas didn't authorize millions 
of individuals to enter illegally into our country for swift and 
precursory release, then let's hold a trial.
  If you are certain that Secretary Mayorkas hasn't increased the pull 
factors incentivizing parents across the globe to send 430,000 
unaccompanied children illegally into the United States, in many cases 
to have them end up in the hands of traffickers--drug traffickers and 
human sex traffickers and otherwise--then let's hold a trial.
  If you are confident that Secretary Mayorkas hasn't created at least 
13 illegal immigration parole programs designed to increase the flow of 
people into this country by the hundreds of thousands, then let's hold 
a trial.
  If you are so sure that Secretary Mayorkas--under Secretary Mayorkas' 
leadership, Customs and Border Protection hasn't dramatically decreased 
its vetting process for allowing Chinese immigrants to cross our 
border, including military-aged Chinese males, then let's hold a trial.
  If you believe that we haven't seen a dramatic increase in the known 
terrorist encounters at our border, then let's hold a trial.
  If you are confident that Secretary Mayorkas hasn't allowed enough 
fentanyl to flow across the southern border to kill every man, woman, 
and child in this country, then let's hold a freaking trial.
  These are not victimless crimes.
  The tragic case of Laken Riley, a life cut short by an illegal alien, 
one of the millions whom Secretary Mayorkas has recklessly, 
intentionally, deliberately, and maliciously allowed to enter our 
country unchecked, unvetted, is a reminder of the human cost of this 
abdication of duty. Laken isn't alone. Her case represents hundreds of 
thousands of families across this Nation whose lives have been upended 
by the invasion that our leaders allowed to happen.
  Think about that for a minute. They allowed it to happen not by 
negligence, oversight, carelessness, inattentiveness. No, no, no. They 
encouraged it to happen.
  Should Secretary Mayorkas be found guilty, these are crimes of the 
highest order. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often in this 
country--the sort of thing that I hope we will never have to experience 
again; the sort of thing that otherwise would result in a Toby Keith 
song, may he rest in peace; the sort of thing that unites Americans in 
surprising ways. The American people understand something is terribly 
wrong, and they expect us to act.
  In all previous impeachments sent to the Senate, we held a trial, 
save those rare circumstances where the case was rendered moot by death 
or vacancy of the office--not facts present here. We held a trial, and 
that trial culminated, in each and every instance, in a verdict of 
guilty or not guilty.
  But the majority leader Chuck Schumer now seems to want to take the 
radical step, the unprecedented step, the lawless step, the counter- 
and anti-constitutional step of trying to table these Articles of 
Impeachment without even letting us examine the evidence.
  This begs the question: What would he do--what would he do--if he 
were confident, if the majority leader were confident that Secretary 
Mayorkas had acted lawfully, honorably, in this office?
  What would he do if he were confident the American people wouldn't 
turn on his party because of this act of lawlessness, this interminable 
succession of absurdities imposed by the myopic logic of their own 
border nonenforcement strategy? This is exactly what it looks like when 
someone is aware that there is a problem and wants to sweep the problem 
under the rug.
  There is no rug here. You can't hide this. There is no rug big enough 
to accommodate that. And shame on us if we play into that strategy.
  To colleagues on my side of the aisle and on the other, I implore 
you. I know many of us are institutionalists. Whether you are a 
Democrat or a Republican, no matter how far to the leftwing or 
rightwing or somewhere in between you are, I appeal to your sense that 
we have an obligation to take seriously our oath to the Constitution. 
We have an obligation that must be honored to look out for the 
institutional interests of the Senate and the role that it plays in the 
sacred order created by the U.S. Constitution.
  When the Articles of Impeachment arrive, we have a job to do. The 
Constitution and our rules and our precedents make that abundantly 
clear. To ignore the evidence before us is to betray the trust of those 
who sent us here.
  There is no doubt, at this point, that the invasion at the southern 
border has inflicted indescribable, incalculable, intolerable pain and 
suffering on the part of the American people. We are obligated to 
figure out who is responsible and hold them accountable, beginning with 
Secretary Mayorkas. I urge each of my colleagues to oppose this 
shameless effort to sidestep our constitutional duty and, by so doing, 
subvert the constitutional order.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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