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Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., reiterated his calls for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to step down from his post amid a crisis on the southern border on Wednesday, calling his leadership a ‘failure.
“This catastrophe that we have on our southern border, this disintegration of our sovereignty, cannot be sustained. Anyone who has two brain cells that maybe collide would know that it’s a dismal failure there,” Higgins said. to Mayorkas, who testified before the House Homeland Security Committee about the department’s 2023 budget request.
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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on November 16, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Higgins asked what it would take for Mayorkas to recognize that he had personally failed in border management – whether to double border crossings and “getaways”, or a “triple crime rate instead of doubling? “
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“How would you identify failure if that’s not what you’ve delivered so far? My God, own the moment,” Higgins said.
Mayorkas remained silent during Higgins’ remarks, including when Higgins threatened to impeach Mayorkas if Republicans won a House majority in November’s midterm elections.
U.S. Representative Clay Higgins, R-La., speaks during the 2018 America First Energy Conference in New Orleans on August 7, 2018.
(REUTERS/Edmund D. Fontaine)
“You have been called upon to resign by myself and others. Next year, if we have a majority, which we will have, you will face impeachment. I ask you as a man, to own this thing,” Higgins said.
“Please feel my mind and speak honestly, step away from your talking points and speak to the American people and own this thing. We are losing our country there and need you to step down. Save the country from the pain of your dismissal.”
Mayorkas responded briefly to Higgins’ time ending.
“Congressman, I couldn’t disagree with you more when you say our nation’s sovereignty is disintegrating,” Mayorkas said.
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Moderate Republicans and Democrats have criticized the DHS secretary and the Biden administration for a recent massive increase in border migration.
DHS Sec. Alexander Mayorkas
(House Appropriations Committee)
Democrats in particular have lobbied the administration on how it will handle the end of Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that allowed border officials to quickly remove migrants who illegally crossed the border for prevent the spread of COVID-19.
DHS has forecast up to 18,000 migrants a day, more than double the average 7,000 border commuters a day officers encountered in March.
Dozens of House Republicans and state attorneys general across the country have called on Mayorkas to resign over his handling of the border under President Biden.
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“In light of recent reports showing your failure to execute the primary mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect our nation from its many threats through your failure and unwillingness to enforce immigration laws, we asking to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security,” a February letter of Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla, and signed by 45 other House Republicans said.
Multiple sources told Fox News that more than 62,000 illegal immigrants were not apprehended by border agents in March, with a total of 300,000 “runaways” since the start of the exercise in October. The total number of escapades is expected to dwarf the 400,000 immigrants believed to have evaded capture in the whole of fiscal year 2021.
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