Leer en Español
AS A MEDIA company geared towards a particular demographic, El American will always seek to promote Hispanics to positions of power, be they the leader of a local school board all the way up to the Oval Office. Although our editorial position is conservative, our desire to see Hispanics succeed transcends both personal and party lines.
It is therefore with no pleasure that this outlet should call for the impeachment of one of the most powerful Hispanic leaders in the country, albeit in a Democratic administration. Yet the failings of the incumbent Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, are so immense that they must no longer be ignored.
As a Cuban immigrant whose family fled Fidel Castro’s communist regime, one would hope that Mayorkas would appreciate the unparalleled freedoms offered by life in the United States of America and why its integrity remains of paramount importance. Yet since his appointment to the role in January 2021, he has displayed both his gross incompetence and disdain for protecting America’s southern border.
The facts speak for themselves. More than 3.1 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection since Biden took office and more than 800,000 have evaded capture, considerably more than the number of detentions during the entire Trump presidency. Meanwhile, the some two million illegal crossings in 2021 represents a record high, more than five times the number that crossed in the previous year.
Under Alejandro Mayorkas’s watch, there have also been at least 1,000 reported deaths along the southern border. Last month, 53 migrants, including dozens of women and children, died under extreme heat exposure as they were trapped in a truck without air conditioning by human traffickers.
Violent Mexican cartels weaponize illegal immigration as a diversionary tactic to transport thousands of kilos of drugs across the border, netting them tens of millions in profits. This has contributed to the ongoing opioid epidemic, with at least 108,000 Americans killed by overdoses in 2021. To put that number in perspective, it is the same as the entire population of Green Bay, Wisconsin dying due to substance abuse.
The situation at the southern border is a humanitarian crisis, yet Mayorkas and the Biden administration show absolutely no sign of trying to stem the flow of people. Instead, the administration is advancing a plan to hand out identity cards to all illegal arrivals, allowing them to get access to benefits and take money out of the public purse at a time when the country is in an economic recession.
In deliberately exacerbating the crisis, Mayorkas is betraying his oath of office. Back in May, he brushed off the threat of impeachment from House Republicans, insisting he is “incredibly proud” of the work he has done at the DHS. Yet support for his impeachment merits bipartisan support. Just this week, the Democratic Mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser, requested the support of the National Guard to deal with the busloads of migrants arriving in the nation’s capital, calling it a “tipping point.” Mayorkas, meanwhile, remains silent.
Although Biden must share the blame for this tragedy, the buck stops with the leadership of the DHS. Republicans may move to #ImpeachMayorkas should they take back control of Congress later this year, but that is too long to wait. The onus is now on Congress to move against this cynical, incompetent, and dishonest political actor.
The Editorial Board