GOP House members have urged for the cancellation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ paycheck over his alleged failure to stem the border crisis.
On March 29, 11 Republican members of the lower chamber of Congress co-signed and sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chair Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), requesting that not a penny be appropriated to pay Mayorkas (pdf).
The representatives say in the letter that Mayorkas should not be paid because he has not done his job and is not serving and protecting the American people.
“As you begin drafting the Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2024, we request that you decrease Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas’ salary to $0 for willfully ignoring his oath to enforce our border security and immigration laws,” reads the letter.
The letter continues: “The Secretary of Homeland Security is responsible for ensuring our nation’s borders are secure from unauthorized entries and individuals threatening our public safety and national security. In addition, the Secretary is required to maintain operational control and prevent narcotics and other contraband from entering the country. Secretary Mayorkas is actively failing to attain and maintain control of the southern border by weakening our security apparatus and implementing policies attracting record-breaking numbers of illegal migrants and bad actors seeking to be released into the United States.”
Signatories of the letter are Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), and Scott Perry (R-Pa.).
Republicans Say Resign or Face Impeachment
Cutting off funding to pay Mayorkas is a component of a series of actions taken by Republicans against the homeland security chief, on whom they place considerable blame that during the Biden presidency a record numbers of illegal aliens and suspected terrorists have been apprehended trying to enter the United States.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) speaks during a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 1, 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images
As The Epoch Times reported on Nov. 22, in the wake of the midterm elections which returned control of the House to the GOP, then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy—who was expected to become speaker when the next Congress was seated—said that he and his party intended to remove Mayorkas as Secretary of Homeland Security
“He [Mayorkas] cannot and must not remain in that position,” said McCarthy. “If he does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action, and every failure to determine whether we should begin an impeachment inquiry.”
A leader in the GOP’s move to impeach Mayorkas is Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who, in August of 2021, was the first member of Congress to file articles of impeachment against the secretary. Biggs filed new articles of impeachment against Mayorkas on Feb. 1.
“Every day Secretary Mayorkas remains in office America becomes less safe,” Biggs said in a statement at the time. “Secretary Mayorkas is the chief architect of the migration and drug invasion at our southern border. His policies have incentivized more than 5 million illegal aliens to show up at our southern border—an all-time figure. Instead of enforcing the laws on the books and deporting or detaining these illegal aliens, the vast majority of them are released into the interior and never heard from again.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
