[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2686-S2692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I appreciate what I heard from the 
Senator from West Virginia, Senator Capito, and I am pleased to follow 
her and precede a number of my colleagues as we address the issue of 
the crisis at our southern border.
  I want to highlight something I heard her say and reiterate myself, 
this is a national security threat. There are many reasons to care 
about what is going on at our borders, and certainly you can take a 
look at the issue of sovereignty and the nature of our country.

[[Page S2687]]

We need to enforce our laws, fentanyl and drugs, human trafficking, but 
sometimes overlooked is the reality of what a security threat a border 
like we have between the United States and Mexico is--but really all of 
our borders. They create a threat to the safety and well-being of the 
American people, the citizens of our country.
  And, yes, we have to deal with the growing drug and crime emergency. 
It is exacerbated. I have been talking to a number of law enforcement 
officers in Kansas--sheriff departments and police officers--and there 
is no question but what they see in Kansas, the challenges are 
exacerbated by the lack of security, the lack of law enforcement at our 
borders, and they see the consequences of that activity in human 
trafficking and drugs.
  It is important for us to talk about and focus on all of the things 
related to our national security. In my view, it is the primary 
responsibility of the Federal Government to make certain that Americans 
are safe. And I was on the Senate floor several weeks ago highlighting 
something I think is hugely important to our national security: the 
passage of the emergency supplemental.
  The consequences of the lack of passing that legislation has 
consequences to the people of Ukraine and the people of Israel and the 
Middle East, the safety and security of other countries in the South 
Pacific, but I highlighted then and would highlight now the passage of 
that emergency supplemental has a consequence, a negative consequence 
if it is not passed, on the safety and security of the American people.
  And so when I was here to highlight the importance of that 
legislation and the need to proceed, I also highlighted the 
consequences of ignoring our border. And I want to say, once again, 
that our border is a national security issue.
  So while we focus on the things that we normally think about national 
security, sometimes we forget this dangerous circumstance that has been 
created.
  I have been to the border a number of times, numerous times. On my 
last visit, I watched as Border Patrol agents apprehended Chinese 
nationals attempting to come into our country illegally. That, in and 
of itself, ought to cause us to have great concern.
  Under Secretary Mayorkas's watch, the U.S. Border Patrol has 
apprehended 336 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist. Remember the 
Terrorist Watchlist and the people who came here on 9/11 and the 
consequences of us failing to exclude them? But 336 have been 
apprehended from that Terrorist Watchlist, and that doesn't include the 
ones whom we have not caught.
  It suggests to us, suggests to me and I hope to us, that there is a 
real serious issue about our national security as a result of our 
country's failures, this administration's failures, on the border.
  In fiscal year 2023--a year ago fiscal year--in that year alone, the 
men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection had approximately 
2.5 million encounters along that southern border. These historic 
levels of crossings at the southern border have put an astronomical--
just a tremendous strain on our immigration system and seriously 
compromised, as I say, compromised our national security.
  Not every immigrant is a criminal, but the sheer number of migrants 
at the border enables those with evil and malicious intentions to enter 
our country undetected and to harm Americans.
  This historic failure is not an accident. Migrants making their way 
to the United States, often through the assistance of organized 
criminal organizations, know our laws and the current lack of 
enforcement of those laws. This administration has created these 
conditions and has done little, if not--really nothing to dissuade 
migrants from making that dangerous journey to our borders.
  Migrants know that the administration has resisted detaining those 
who crossed the border illegally. They know that this administration 
has resisted hardening border infrastructure, and they know that the 
administration's abuse of the parole system will increase the chance of 
remaining in the United States if they can get across. All of those 
factors lead us to where we are today.
  Last fall, I questioned the Department of Homeland Security 
Secretary, Secretary Mayorkas. We had a joint Appropriations Committee. 
The hearing was on our national security, and the topic was the 
supplemental I referenced in my remarks several weeks ago on the Senate 
floor and just a moment ago. And when I asked Secretary Mayorkas if he 
was willing to work on areas of immigration reform where there is 
bipartisan consensus--certain issues I believe in regard to border 
security would receive 60 votes on the Senate floor and be signed into 
law--the Secretary told me that he wanted comprehensive reform.
  I have been in this body, the Senate. I have been in the House before 
then. We have talked about immigration changes. We have talked about 
border security. Those two things go hand in hand, in my view, and we 
know where this insistence that we have comprehensive immigration 
reform ends.
  No evidence in my time in the Senate and no evidence in my time in 
the House that if we have to do everything--the evidence is that we do 
nothing, and that is what I told the Secretary. I would tell him that 
again.
  If you are unwilling to work with us to find the things we can agree 
on, then nothing is going to happen to protect our borders, and our 
immigration system remains so flawed.
  There is value, of course, in comprehensive reform--things that deal 
with all issues top to bottom--to ensure the needs of safety for the 
American people and the importance of that to our economy. But, again, 
my experience and my time in Congress is that if we keep waiting for 
comprehensive reform, the result is we do nothing.
  Secretary Mayorkas has an obligation to use the tools Congress has 
already provided to enforce legislation that has already passed. 
Waiting for comprehensive reform is an excuse for the Secretary and for 
the President, President Biden, to do nothing.
  Mayorkas's inaction on the border and his leniency toward enforcing 
the law has resulted in what we see, the crisis we face today. We keep 
waiting to reach the tipping point in that crisis, but that, I think, 
has long passed. Migrants are living on the streets of New York. We 
have lost thousands of Americans to fentanyl poisoning, and our borders 
have been exploited by our enemies.

  My point is that America is in jeopardy in many ways. We face 
tremendous challenges around the globe, and our adversaries and enemies 
are aligned to do us harm. And one of the places that we cannot look 
the other way is our border and our border security. It is too great a 
risk and too much of an opportunity for death and destruction to come 
to the United States of America.
  The Biden administration has made it clear, over the last 3 years, 
that securing our border is not a priority; it is not a priority of 
theirs. And now it is up to the Senate to hold the administration 
accountable for those failures, the failures at our southern border, 
again, that affect our national security, the No. 1 priority of the 
Federal Government.
  Every State is a border State, and the American people deserve a 
secure border.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. HAGERTY. Madam President, in our Nation's 248-year history, the 
House of Representatives has impeached individuals in 21 cases. 
Reflecting the grave, highly rare exercise of this constitutional 
power, the Senate has tried each such case, except where the person 
resigned office before the Senate trial, rendering such trial moot.
  This includes two partisan Democratic impeachments of the former 
President--one in which the Republicans controlled the Senate and one 
in which it was equally divided.
  Shattering norms, however, is becoming a defining theme for Democrats 
this year. Why are my Democratic colleagues so eager to shirk their 
constitutional duty and ignore an impeachment? Because they want to 
ignore the damning evidence of Secretary Mayorkas's willful violations 
of immigration law.
  I can think of no better example than the Secretary's decision to 
willfully and knowingly exceed his parole authority set forth in the 
Immigration and Nationality Act. That law permits the Secretary to 
grant parole but only

[[Page S2688]]

on a case-by-case basis, temporarily, and ``for urgent humanitarian 
reasons or significant public benefit''; for example, when a person is 
in need of urgent medical care or the person needs to attend a family 
member's funeral. He has even created a new taxpayer-funded parole 
program to allow aliens from numerous countries to be flown directly 
into the United States.
  He has abused his case-by-case parole authority beyond any degree 
imaginable. He is now flying 30,000 illegal aliens per month directly 
into the United States for resettlement.
  This is a blatant violation of the law, and it is abuse of the parole 
law in particular. Two weeks ago, every single Senate Democrat voted 
against my appropriations amendment to defund this very parole flight 
program. That vote is impossible to explain to ordinary Americans. They 
see the absurdity of flying in tens of thousands of illegal aliens 
right in the midst of an illegal immigration crisis.
  So, instead, partisan so-called fact checkers have recently been 
quibbling over which flights or which airports are being used. This is 
clearly an attempt to distract from the basic problem with this 
taxpayer-funded program, which is that it is illegal and it is absurd.
  I understand why Democrats want to cover it up though. It is the same 
reason they don't want to consider these impeachment articles.
  Similarly, the Secretary terminated contracts for border wall 
construction and refused to expend funds that Congress appropriated for 
this specific purpose.
  Secretary Mayorkas's impoundment of funds is a clear attempt to usurp 
the will of Congress by refusing their mandate, our mandate, to build 
the border wall.
  The Secretary has also replaced detention mandates in law with 
unlawful mass catch-and-release policies that encourage illegal 
immigration.
  The law requires that illegal aliens are detained until they are 
deported, unless they are clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be 
allowed into the United States. Instead of complying with this 
requirement, the Secretary has released millions of illegal aliens into 
American communities.
  We have seen the devastating effects of the Biden administration's 
illegal border policies. We have heard from Americans whose lives and 
property are being destroyed by droves of illegal aliens who are coming 
into the United States every single day.
  We have heard from Border Patrol agents who want nothing more than to 
do their jobs and secure the border, but whose hands have been tied by 
the Mayorkas-led Department of Homeland Security.
  The American people have seen the chaotic images of the southern 
border under this administration. They have witnessed the ravaging 
effects of illegal immigration in their own communities. This includes 
drug overdoses, violent crime, local disorder, and the national 
security threat of unknown bad actors from all over the world coming 
across our open border.
  And 249 people on the Terrorist Watchlist have been encountered at 
the southern border just last year alone.
  Since October, a record number of Chinese nationals--22,000, in 
fact--have been encountered by Border Patrol; in all, over 10 million 
illegal aliens have crossed the border under this Secretary's watch. 
The collapse of our southern border and the devastating consequences 
and future risks it has created for our Nation is the greatest national 
security risk we face as a nation.
  The House of Representatives took the extraordinary step of 
impeaching a government official for his role in this, and yet Senate 
Democrats want to completely ignore all of this? They don't want you to 
hear about it. They want to sweep it under the rug in an election year.
  The Secretary's alleged violations of law warrant a trial before the 
Senate. It warrants basic diligence in examining the evidence. And 
every Senator should go on record regarding the charges.
  I have cosponsored resolutions by several colleagues establishing 
impeachment procedures that are in line with past Senate impeachment 
trials. We are open to debate on the details of the process, but there 
must be a process.
  This is an important point: The current debate is not even whether or 
not Secretary Mayorkas is guilty as charged but whether we should even 
examine the question or whether, instead, as the Senate majority leader 
reportedly plans to do, we should just hide the evidence from the 
American people and avoid discussing this administration's failures at 
all costs.
  Why? Because this is an election year. If the majority leader wishes 
to honor and preserve the world's greatest deliberative body, I urge 
him not to take this unprecedented step of blocking consideration of 
the impeachment articles against Secretary Mayorkas.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, the fundamental purpose of our Federal 
Government is to protect Americans, to keep Americans safe. What we 
have seen happen on our southern border has put Americans at risk. It 
is a national security crisis, a drug trafficking crisis--child 
trafficking, sex trafficking. It is putting Americans at risk. And the 
people responsible for this open border policy are Joe Biden and the 
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.
  Since the Biden administration has been in power, we have seen a 
flood of drugs coming across our border. The cartels are making 
billions. Fentanyl and other illegal drugs are the leading killer of 
young Americans in this country. If you are in the age of between 18 
and 45, the most likely cause of your death is drug overdose, and the 
majority of that is fentanyl--70,000 young people a year dying because 
of fentanyl.
  When I was Governor, we saw the amount of drugs coming into my State 
under Joe Biden go up dramatically. We saw twice as much 
methamphetamine, three times as much fentanyl, ten times as much 
cocaine.
  We have seen the number of people on the Terrorist Watchlist 
skyrocket as well. Under the Trump administration, a total of 11 people 
on the FBI Terrorist Watchlist were caught trying to cross the border 
during 4 years of President Trump. In the last fiscal year, 169 people 
on the FBI Terrorist Watchlist were trying to cross the border 
illegally.
  In all, since the Biden administration has been in place, 9.2 million 
people have either tried to get into this country illegally or have 
succeeded in getting into this country illegally, and Secretary 
Mayorkas has willfully refused to support our immigration laws at the 
direction of this administration. He is culpable in what is going on at 
our southern border.
  If you ask Americans, ``Who do you think is responsible?'' 57 percent 
say there has been a willful unenforcement of our laws. Our laws are 
not being enforced. That includes 61 percent of Independents and a 
third of Democrats.
  And if you wonder who is responsible for this, you need to look no 
further than a memorandum--a guideline--that was issued in 2021 from 
Secretary Mayorkas. According to news accounts, Secretary Mayorkas 
issued a memorandum to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials 
saying:

       The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen therefore 
     should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action 
     against them.

  Think about that. What he is saying is that, just because somebody 
broke the law, it doesn't mean you have to enforce the law against 
them--in fact, that you shouldn't enforce the law against them. That is 
not what the law is about. This is absolutely stunning.
  When you are in the private sector and somebody is not doing their 
job, you hold them accountable. We need to hold accountable the people 
who have opened our southern border.
  Madam President, 57 percent believe that there has been a willful 
disregard. And not only do those people in our country believe that, 
but the U.S. House of Representatives has passed an impeachment 
resolution condemning Secretary Mayorkas, for ``willful and systematic 
refusal to comply with [current U.S. immigration] law'' and for 
``breach of public trust.''
  Impeachment is serious, and these allegations are serious. We in the 
U.S. Senate need to treat them with that level of seriousness.
  We have seen an open border policy from this administration. 
Secretary

[[Page S2689]]

Mayorkas is responsible for carrying out the policy. It is now our 
duty, as a U.S. Senate, to have the trial to determine guilt or 
innocence. This is a constitutional responsibility. However, it appears 
that our leader and the Democrats are determined to table this, to set 
it aside in a manner that is unprecedented. It has never happened that 
the U.S. Senate has refused to take up the charges.
  Folks, we don't need to be breaking more norms in the U.S. Senate. We 
are abdicating our constitutional responsibility if we do not hold this 
trial.
  The people responsible need to be held accountable. We need to hear 
the evidence. So why don't the Democrats want to hold this trial? Well, 
perhaps because they are afraid of the American public hearing again 
how bad the situation at the southern border is, the 9.2 million people 
coming in here. Or perhaps they don't want to know how this 
administration and Secretary Mayorkas is abusing the parole function.
  Parole is a function that allows the executive branch to bring in 
foreigners. It is supposed to be done, according to the Immigration and 
Naturalization Act, on a case-by-case basis, only in instances of 
extreme humanitarian need or in the best interest of the country. Under 
the Obama and Trump administrations, it happened about 5,600 times a 
year--5,600 times a year. Last year alone, this Biden administration 
paroled into the country 1.2 million people. We are doing whole classes 
of people. It is a clear abuse of power.

  This administration is also abusing the asylum system, and Secretary 
Mayorkas is overseeing the Department of Homeland Security with both 
this new policy in parole and what is going on in asylum.
  And think about this: Say you are somebody who comes across that 
border, and you were granted parole to get to this country, like Jose 
Ibarra, the Venezuelan accused of killing Laken Riley, and you get into 
this country. What is the first thing you are doing? You are contacting 
folks back home to tell them what happened to you.
  This creates more incentive for people to come here illegally. It is 
part of why we have this problem. We need to explore topics like this.
  Or perhaps the Democrats know how bad this is and don't want to 
defend the catastrophe that is going on at the southern border. They 
don't want to have to defend this administration's policy, what 
Secretary Mayorkas has been doing with regard to parole. Maybe they 
think it is bad, too, and don't want to have to defend it.
  But whatever the reason, if our leader does not have a trial, it will 
be the first time this has happened. It will be unprecedented, and we 
will be breaking, again, another norm for the U.S. Senate.
  Impeachment is serious. These charges are serious. The American 
people deserve an answer. We need to have a trial. I call on my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle to insist upon a trial and 
uphold our constitutional authority. Let's have a trial so that we can 
hear and determine the guilt and innocence. That is what the American 
people deserve.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, next week, we are scheduled to begin a 
trial of the Secretary of Homeland Security. It doesn't begin a 
conversation about homeland security in our country. That conversation 
started years ago now.
  The American people are incredibly frustrated with what they are 
seeing on the southern border, and they keep saying it over and over 
again--remarkably so in a nation where inflation continues to be 
stubbornly high, where it is harder and harder to afford a carton of 
eggs and gasoline and all of the basics of life. In all of the areas 
that you would think the economy would be the No. 1 issue in the 
Nation, actually, national security and border security end up being 
No. 1, regardless of what State you live in. This is no longer a border 
State issue. Americans feel this is a problem.
  Well, they should. In the past 3 years, more people have illegally 
crossed our southern border than in the previous 12 years combined, and 
it is not close--the number. We are approaching 8 million people who 
have illegally crossed our southern border just in the last 3 years.
  Cities feel it. Americans feel it. School districts feel it. 
Communities feel it. Homeless shelters feel it. It continues to spiral 
into our country.
  This is not some accident of migration, as the administration tries 
to say over and over again--that there is global migration that is 
happening everywhere. This was a series of Executive orders that were 
done in 2021 that were intentionally designed to change what is 
happening at our southern border, and they certainly have.
  Decisions were made in 2021 by the Biden administration to be able to 
shift multiple things, starting with loosening enforcement. On day one 
of the Biden administration, stop any construction of the wall and 
announce it publicly: We are no longer going to do wall construction, 
not even repair.
  Step No. 2, dramatically loosen the actual enforcement within the 
country so that fewer people would actually be deported when they came. 
So if you crossed the border illegally, it is a much greater likelihood 
that, once you get across, you will not be deported.
  The third thing, they changed the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy--that 
simple policy to say that, yes, you can request asylum, but you can't 
just be released in the country. They shifted it immediately, and 
shifted it from ``remain at the border or in Mexico.'' Rather than 
being in detention, you could be released anywhere in the country on 
your own recognizance and to be able to go anywhere you want. That 
dramatically increased the number of people who were crossing.
  They also shifted where the State Department is no longer negotiating 
deals with Central America--Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador--to be 
able to stop migrants from moving through that direction. They have 
withdrawn those agreements from Central America, and the State 
Department stopped putting pressure on recalcitrant countries that 
wouldn't take their people back.
  These are not accidental things. These were intentional actions.
  But what I don't think the administration intended was how this has 
spiraled out of control. They sowed to the wind, and the Nation is 
reaping the whirlwind of it--almost 8 million people now who have 
illegally crossed our border.
  And now it is no longer people from the Western Hemisphere. 
Literally, it is people from all over the world. Pick up any tracking, 
at any point, to be able to track what is happening at the border, and 
you will find thousands of people who are crossing from China, from 
Russia, from Pakistan, from West Africa, from all over Asia.
  When I talk to people at the border--and I do talk often to them--one 
of the first things I ask is: What are the trends? What are you seeing?
  And for the past year and a half, they continue to tell me: a greater 
and greater number of non-Spanish speakers who are crossing that 
border, who are males in their twenties, from all over the world, who 
are coming.
  Just in the past year, we have picked up individuals who have al-
Shabaab terrorist connections, picked up folks with Hezbollah terrorist 
connections, picked up folks with all kinds of different connections to 
all kinds of different terrorist organizations. And we have been able 
to pick up some, but some have gotten through or have been 
released. This is an issue I continue to be able to bring up that this 
administration is not managing. In the past year, there were over 
70,000 individuals who were identified as what was defined as a 
``special interest alien.'' These individuals crossed our border. The 
administration designated them as a ``special interest alien'' and then 
released them on their own recognizance into our country.

  Let me clarify what that term is. A ``special interest alien''--this 
is their definition--is a non-U.S. person who, based on the analysis of 
travel patterns, potentially poses a national security threat to the 
United States or its interests. Madam President, 70,000 of those in the 
past year have crossed the border and have been released into the 
United States.
  This is no longer a simple migration issue; this is a national 
security issue, and it is one this administration has not only invited 
but they have now chosen to not even take seriously.

[[Page S2690]]

  This body knows full well--I believe there are some things that can 
only be done by acts of this body: changing the definition of 
``asylum,'' increasing the number of detention beds. There are multiple 
issues that we need to do and that we should take responsibility for. 
But this body should not sit and say that nothing can be done when the 
White House has authorities they are not using. We should do our job. 
The White House should do their job. Currently, that is not happening, 
and the threat continues to increase.
  Next week, we start an impeachment trial which has never happened in 
the history of the Department of Homeland Security--that they would 
have an impeachment of the Secretary. That starts. But can I say to 
you, even if the Secretary is removed, the White House still created 
this policy. The Obama administration had multiple leaders in that 
role, but they had one policy. The Trump administration had multiple 
leaders in that role; they had one policy. This White House has a 
policy of maintaining an open border, and until this White House 
changes that policy and actually uses the authority they already have, 
none of this is going to change.
  So my challenge is to us. We should do our job and work on the issues 
we should do, but this White House needs to step up because right now, 
they are just hoping that none of those 70,000 people they defined as a 
national security risk actually does an act of terrorism or crime in 
the country.
  I don't want to just hope that someone we have defined as a national 
security risk doesn't actually carry it out. I think we need to 
actually enforce the law, I think we need to discourage illegal 
immigration, and I think we need to actually have a secure border, and 
I don't believe I am alone in that in this body or in our great 
country.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, Homeland Security Secretary 
Alejandro Mayorkas and globalist Democrats have been derelict in their 
duty to secure the border under President Joe Biden--I repeat: derelict 
in their duty.
  Our border is the least secure it has been in the history of our 
country. In fact, it is almost nonexistent. At least 9 million illegal 
immigrants have entered our country since the beginning of this 
administration. Our Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed and receive 
such little support from the Biden administration to enforce our laws 
that they have been forced to release millions of illegal immigrants 
into the United States.
  Those who are released on parole are given work permits. Tell me 
this: How does handing out work permits discourage illegal immigration? 
It doesn't. How do these actions secure the border? They don't. We 
might as well start mailing every criminal, drug trafficker, and 
terrorist an open invitation to invade our country.
  I have spoken numerous times on the floor to highlight stories of 
Americans dying at the hands of illegal aliens: 12-year-old Travis 
Wolfe of Missouri, 22-year-old Laken Riley of Georgia, Washington State 
Trooper Chris Gadd. The tragic deaths are a direct result of Secretary 
Mayorkas's inaction. How many more Americans have to die before the 
globalist Democratic Party takes meaningful action to secure the 
border? This madness must end. Americans deserve to be safe from the 
drug traffickers, terrorists, and murderers who are flooding into our 
country.
  The number of people crossing into the United States who are on the 
Terrorist Watchlist is unprecedented.
  Fentanyl flows freely across our borders and is killing more and more 
Americans every day. Law enforcement officers in Alabama tell me time 
and time again that their officers must wear heavy equipment and carry 
Narcan spray to protect themselves from the fentanyl that is pouring 
into our communities. Three years ago, they had never heard the word 
``fentanyl,'' says our police chief in the city of Montgomery.
  The cartels are trafficking professionals. They are managing the 
human and drug trafficking at our border. This is a billion-dollar 
industry that the Biden administration is turning its back on and 
allowing.
  Secretary Mayorkas has completely--completely, 110 percent--refused 
to do his job. He swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution 
of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Can any 
one of us seriously say that Secretary Mayorkas has upheld his oath of 
office?
  Progressive Democrats are wanting to try to table the Articles of 
Impeachment and sweep Biden's border bloodbath under the rug. Every 
House Democrat already voted. They have already voted to save 
Mayorkas's job. Globalist Democrats are lying to themselves and risking 
the lives of American citizens. Senator Schumer and the progressive 
Democrats can't say they want to fix our border while voting to save 
Secretary Mayorkas's job.

  Despite the critical need to secure our borders and discourage 
illegal immigration, Secretary Mayorkas travels the world discussing 
national security with our strategic partners while his own country is 
being invaded. It is embarrassing.
  Last month, Secretary Mayorkas was in Guatemala discussing migration 
flows from South America to the United States. Have these folks done 
anything to stop the border invasion from their countries? They have 
done absolutely nothing.
  In February, Mayorkas traveled to Austria to speak with Chinese 
officials about counternarcotic efforts. Did he discuss with them the 
flood of Chinese illegal immigrants coming to the United States through 
the southwest border?
  Madam President, 22,000 Chinese nationals have been arrested by 
Border Patrol agents at the southwest border since October and released 
into our country. Most of these individuals are single adult males of 
military age. Yet the media tries to act like all these people who 
cross the border are nice people, nice women and children. Some of them 
are, but most are not.
  This invasion is more than a border crisis; it is a national security 
crisis. Yet I seriously doubt that Secretary Mayorkas even brought that 
up in his meeting with the Chinese officials a few months ago.
  In February, Secretary Mayorkas was in Germany for the Munich 
Security Conference. The Munich Security Conference is the largest 
international security meeting in the world. Secretary Mayorkas was 
there giving speeches on strengthening global security and partnership. 
Americans are dying--dying--from our dangerous open borders, and he is 
talking about other borders across the world. The Secretary responsible 
for securing our borders is collecting passport stamps while lecturing 
other countries on their national security. Our allies must be laughing 
at us. The Secretary's priority should be here, securing our borders, 
not somebody else's, and protecting our citizens, not somebody else's.
  President Biden has made the United States a joke on the world 
stage--an absolute joke. We need to get our house in order. We are in 
trouble.
  So far, there has been only talk as far as border security is 
concerned for the last 3 years. Now is the time for every Senator to go 
on the record. If you are at all concerned about the drugs and 
criminals flooding into our country and moving to your State, you will 
vote for a full and fair trial. This is not a gray area.
  Secretary Mayorkas has intentionally--intentionally--failed to do his 
job. It is time that the Senate take action. The families of Laken 
Riley, Travis Wolfe, Trooper Gadd, and countless others deserve--they 
deserve a fair trial.
  I will be voting to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable, and I ask my 
colleagues to do the same.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, first, I would like to congratulate 
and commend the comments by the previous speaker, the Senator from 
Alabama, who makes important points that are important for the history 
as well as the future of this country.
  I rise today, as he did, to speak about the impeachment of the 
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Mayorkas. I 
bring with me today to the floor ``The Federalist Papers'' written by 
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay and refer to Federalist 
65.
  As I stand here and look at the pages in here and pages in the book 
and the

[[Page S2691]]

pages in the front of the Senate Chamber, I would recommend to them 
that they read ``The Federalist Papers.'' I recommend the same to my 
intern who is here on the floor today, Eve Hawkins, and to the students 
in the Galleries. There is a lot to learn about the country and a lot 
to learn about our history, our heritage, and the reason we have the 
Nation we have today.
  Federalist 65 talks about impeachment. This is about the abuse and 
violation of public trust. Hamilton goes on to say that impeachment is 
an important power to remedy ``injuries done immediately to the society 
itself.'' This is the case we are here to talk about today and why I 
bring the book along.
  The charges against Secretary Mayorkas are serious, are substantive. 
The facts in support of them are compelling. They deserve careful 
consideration by this body. Secretary Mayorkas must be held 
accountable. His duty as Secretary is to protect the homeland. That is 
not what has happened. Instead, he refuses to secure the border.
  The House charges that Secretary Mayorkas has ``willfully and 
systematically refused,'' they say, ``to enforce border security 
laws.'' Secretary Mayorkas wants to open our borders so the entire 
world, from Beijing to Belize, can come in. He has turned a secure 
border into a welcome center.
  Remember, in September of 2021, the Secretary issued a shocking 
priorities memorandum. Our country has been shaken as a result of that 
memorandum, and it has not been forgotten. The memo severely limited 
who ICE was allowed to arrest--that is Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement. He also revived the catch-and-release program and abused 
parole laws. In fact, the Secretary bragged on MSNBC that he had--
Secretary Mayorkas--``rescinded so many Trump immigration policies, it 
would take so much time to list them.'' For people who prefer a secure 
border for our Nation and care about our Nation's security, this is an 
admission of willingness to ignore the law of the land. It also 
provided an open invitation for illegal immigrants or, as the Biden 
administration calls them, ``newcomers.''
  After 3 years of open borders, the number of illegal crossings is up 
to at least 9.2 million people into this country illegally.
  Crimes are up. Drug overdose deaths across America are up. What about 
the number of deportations of criminal illegal immigrants? Well, they 
are not being sent back. Deportations are down. Arrests are down. 
Illegal immigrants are not being detained. Murderers, rapists, other 
criminals--they are not being deported. That is a decision that is 
coming out of this administration and the Secretary of Homeland 
Security. Americans like Laken Riley and Ruby Garcia--they have been 
brutally murdered. America is less safe.
  Secretary Mayorkas claims--he has come to the Senate and claimed; he 
has come to the House and claimed--that the border is secure. People 
laugh knowing how untrue it is. It is a lie to the Senate, a lie to the 
House. It is such a serious matter, though; it is hard to laugh.
  Meanwhile, our country is losing control of our borders to the 
cartels and to the criminals. Every fairminded person knows that these 
are serious charges, and the Senate must hold a full and fair trial. It 
is our constitutional duty. The House has done its job. Yet Senate 
Democrats--each and every one of them--are refusing to do theirs.
  It seems, this week, that the Democratic leader is scheming--
scheming--to bury these charges against Mayorkas without a full and 
fair trial. The Constitution demands there be one. The Senate majority 
leader's actions would turn the Senate from the world's greatest 
deliberative body into the world's quickest dismissal body.
  The Senate majority leader is not here on the floor today. He seems 
to be afraid of allowing the case against the lawless actions of the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to even be presented to the American 
people. His plan to bypass the trial breaks the rules, breaks the 
standards, and breaks the traditions of this body.
  Let us set the record straight: The Senate has always done its 
constitutional duty. We know the history. The House has sent 
impeachment articles to the Senate 21 times in the history of this 
country, and the Senate has never dismissed those articles without the 
official first resigning. Seventeen of those cases went to trial right 
here in the Senate and ended in decisions of either guilty or not 
guilty. Three of the cases were dismissed during the trial. The reason 
why is that the official resigned or they were expelled before a 
verdict was reached. One of them never went to trial because the 
official resigned before the trial began.
  The Democratic leader doesn't seem to care about any of this, not at 
all. He wants to ignore the charges against Mayorkas without a trial at 
all. This would be disastrous for the Senate and for our Nation.
  So, within the next week, the Senate Democrats must make a choice: 
Will they provide the transparency that the American people demand, the 
accountability that American citizens deserve? Or will the Democrats--
each and every one of them--vote to bury these serious charges before 
the Senate is allowed to hear a single piece of evidence?
  The Senate Democrats have now established a history of coddling 
criminals, people who have come to this country illegally. All 100 
Senators have a solemn responsibility to work to keep our Nation safe 
and secure. Without a full and fair trial, there will be no 
accountability.
  Republicans want the Senate to do what it has always done--allow the 
House to present its case, allow the Senate to hold a full trial, and 
let the American people hear the truth. Holding a full and fair trial 
is a matter of transparency and accountability. Avoiding a trial would 
be an act of partisanship at the expense of public trust.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, I did not intend to speak on Secretary 
Mayorkas, but I want to say a few words before I get to the content of 
my speech.
  What I would say is that I respectfully disagree with my colleagues 
and my friends on the Republican side of the aisle and with the 
politics that are being played.
  I was the Governor of the State of West Virginia, and I made an awful 
lot of appointments under what we call will and pleasure. I asked the 
State senate to confirm people I thought would work and do a great job 
for the people of West Virginia. It was my responsibility. If it went 
wrong or they did not basically fulfill their duties, that was my 
responsibility. If they had criminal charges brought against them, 
whether they were civil or criminal, then the courts would take it. 
They have a right to remove, and I would have been respectfully 
obligated to remove. And, if not, they had a right to impeach.
  We are not there. Everyone seems to be upset that Secretary Mayorkas, 
whom I know to be a good man, is being ostracized for doing the job he 
has done, that he has been basically directed to do by his boss, the 
President of the United States. If you are unhappy, go to the polls. It 
is the boss, OK? That is where it is. I think it has been a disaster. 
The first 2 or 3 years, right now, have been a disaster.
  I have asked--I have begged--the President to change: Secure our 
border. It has to be secured. It is the most dangerous thing we face.
  And when I have said that, I have said: Declare a national emergency.
  Well, the mistakes the President has made, basically, were tried to 
be corrected when he supported the piece of legislation we had before 
us, about 2 or 3 weeks ago, that was negotiated. The lead negotiator, I 
think, is one of the most honorable people we have in the Senate, 
Republican and our friend James Lankford from Oklahoma--Senator 
Lankford. I think it was a tremendous piece of legislation that would 
have given us more security at the border, and it would have stopped 
all the illegal flow. But it was still politicized, and it didn't 
happen, and I think Ali Mayorkas is being blamed for that too.
  I am sorry. It was not him. And for us to go through a trial with 
what precious time we have left and all the challenges we have--let's 
just vote on securing the border. Once and for all, secure the border. 
Let's vote on taking care of our responsibilities around the world and 
at home--securing our border and helping our allies defend their own. 
That is what we should be doing.

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  Everything is politicized to the point now that we can't get beyond 
whose fault it is rather than say: Hey, we are Americans. If I am a 
Democrat and you are a Republican and vice versa, you are not my enemy. 
You are my colleague whom I might have differences with, but we can 
work it out. No one wants to find that sensible middle anymore. It is a 
bad word--``compromise.'' You never hear it anymore.
  But to blame Secretary Mayorkas for your thinking he didn't do the 
job or what he said was in violation of the Constitution is ridiculous. 
It is basically something that I can't wait to vote against and get out 
as soon as it comes here. Why did they wait until next week? We could 
have voted on it today or tomorrow. Why? Did they want to let it fester 
a little bit? It doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.
  With that being said, I would hope that we would come to our senses 
and get to the real problems we have in America, and let's try to help 
the people who are living through some very high pricing. As far as 
food, the basic necessities of life are very difficult for an awful lot 
of people in my State of West Virginia, and I am going to do all I can 
to help them. But, with that, this is not the way to get our job done--
to waste more time on something that is so senseless and reckless.