It’s Time to Ditch Mayorkas

It is no surprise that the Biden administration is facing harsh criticism over their handling of the border crisis as apprehensions continue to rise. In April, there were nearly 179,000 apprehensions, a 21-year high, which brings apprehensions to a total of 749,613 so far in this fiscal year.

At the epicenter of this mess at our southern border is Alejandro Mayorkas. Despite his record as a staunch opponent of immigration enforcement and a key contributor to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, President Biden nominated Mayorkas to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Mayorkas was confirmed in early February.

As if it wasn’t clear enough when looking at his record during the Obama administration, since taking office, Mayorkas has proven that he is an agent of illegal aliens, not a servant of the American people. Not only have apprehensions increased since Mayorkas became DHS secretary, but he also has done nothing to stem the flow of illegal border crossers. Instead, he has exacerbated the crisis by supporting the end of Title 42 for unaccompanied minors, instigating the current surge that is overwhelming border agents and border communities alike. Encounters of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) on the southern border skyrocketed to nearly 19,000 in March and fell slightly to just over 17,000 in April, bringing the total to 65,825 UAC apprehended so far this fiscal year. That is an increase of more than 38 percent overall from this point in the fiscal year during the 2019 crisis.

Additionally, Mayorkas has handcuffed American immigration agencies, preventing them from doing their jobs, increasing restrictions on enforcement methods and decreasing morale among agents. Once again, his actions show that he is not living up to the oath he took when he was sworn in to protect the homeland and the American people as he continues to put policies in place that incentivize illegal immigration. All existing policies designed to crack down on asylum fraud have been rescinded, catch and release is the new mantra of the department, and deportations are at an all-time low. Not to mention the fact that the thousands of migrants entering the country every day are being released into the interior of the country in the midst of a public health crisis with little to no COVID testing.

Mayorkas also blocked the implementation of a rule that would have prioritized H-1B admissions by salary, increasing the cost of hiring a guestworker. This rule would have increased protection for American workers from unnecessary competition with cheaper foreign-born labor. He also increased the H-2B visa cap by 22,000, further disadvantaging American workers in a time of high unemployment.

Furthermore, Mayorkas refuses to acknowledge his role in creating the crisis, or even that there is a crisis at all. Ironically, he claimed in a Senate hearing that it was former President Trump who created the crisis which he denies even exists.

FAIR president, Dan Stein, wrote in the Daily Caller, “The country has lost confidence in Mayorkas to do his job. The situation is worsening, not improving, because of his lack of leadership in the secretary position…For these reasons, Biden must remove Mayorkas from his role and nominate someone for the position who understands and is prepared to solve the current challenges our country faces at the southern border.” Although, it is unlikely President Biden will do such a thing, especially when he himself continues to incentivize illegal immigration and eviscerate our immigration system.

To make matters worse, President Biden’s picks to head other immigration agencies will likely follow suit given their track records. Tucson, Arizona police chief Chris Magnus, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nominee, has claimed that immigration enforcement makes the United States less safe, and refused to work with CBP in the past. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) nominee Ur Jaddou is a mass amnesty advocate and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nominee Ed Gonzales, ironically, refused to cooperate with ICE – the agency he has now been tapped to lead – as the sheriff of Harris County, Texas.

All three nominees, along with Mayorkas, clearly demonstrate the immigration agenda of the Biden administration. And each has a track record which shows that they are in direct opposition to the missions of the agencies they have been chosen to lead.

In a FAIR press release, Stein added, “It is clear that Mayorkas will not secure the border or enforce the overwhelming majority of our nation’s immigration laws. Thus, every day that he remains secretary of DHS, he is consciously violating his oath of office.” He continued, “President Biden must ignore the open-borders puppeteers he has been surrounded with and terminate Secretary Mayorkas immediately. Time is running out.”