FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Roger Marshall, R-M.D., will lead a resolution on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon calling for a vote of “no confidence” of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Republican lawmakers have been critical of Mayorkas’s handling of the southern border, as illegal immigrant crossings reached a record high last month.
The resolution comes just days before the House launches an impeachment hearing into the DHS secretary over his handling of the southern border.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have illegally crossed into the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) sources told Fox News Digital last month that there were upward of 300,000 migrant encounters at the end of December — a historical record for crossings in a single month.
“Secretary Mayorkas is derelict in his duties and has failed to uphold his oath,” Marshall, one of the members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, is expected to say on the floor Tuesday afternoon.
MAYORKAS ACKNOWLEDGES THAT MAJORITY OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED INTO US: ‘I KNOW THE DATA’
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, left, and Sen. Roger Marshall, right. (Getty Images)
“Over the past three years, Secretary Mayorkas has refused to enforce immigration laws passed by Congress, fueling the invasion at our border. He ended effective border policies like catch and release, Remain in Mexico, Title 42, and exploited parole and asylum loopholes that have allowed over 6 million migrants to live in the interior of our country without being vetted and with a court date nearly a decade away,” Marshall is expected to say.
“With over 10 million illegal migrants entering our country under this administration’s watch, not to mention 1.7 million known ‘gotaways,’ the crisis at our borders dire,” Marshall is expected to say. “Yet, Mayorkas continues to lie to the American people, and even under oath to Congress, when he says he has “operational control” of our borders.”
The Republican lawmaker is expected to add, “To claim that he has any control, better yet, ‘operational control’ as required by law, is not only disingenuous and insulting to the American people who are concerned for their safety and security — it’s illegal.”
MAYORKAS TELLS BORDER PATROL AGENTS THAT ‘ABOVE 85%’ OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED INTO US: SOURCES
More than a thousand migrants awaiting entry into the United States from Juarez, Mexico. (Fox News Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
“My colleagues and I have outlined numerous ways Secretary Mayorkas is derelict in his duty as secretary and failed to uphold his oath,” Marshall intends to say.
Following Marshall’s floor remarks, Marshall will hold a press conference with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and other GOP senators.
In a private meeting with agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, last week, Mayorkas agreed with Border Patrol agents that the current rate of release for illegal immigrants apprehended at the southern border is “above 85%,” according to three Border Patrol sources who were in the room and heard the remarks themselves.
The conversation happened during the muster for agents in the busy border area. Fox is told Mayorkas was asked directly about comments he made on “Special Report” last week when he was asked by anchor Bret Baier about reporting that over 70% of migrants are released into the U.S. each day.
A group of migrants walk to a van as hundreds of migrants gather along the border Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Lukeville, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
“It would not surprise me at all. I know the data,” Mayorkas said. “And I will tell you that when individuals are released, they are released into immigration enforcement proceedings. They are on alternatives to detention. And we have returned or removed a record number of individuals. We are enforcing the laws that Congress has passed.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.