Republican Texas Rep. Beth Van Duyne sparred Tuesday with CNN’s Brianna Keilar over impeaching Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border.
House Republicans have attempted to impeach Mayorkas but fell short of the votes, with four Republicans voting alongside all House Democrats against impeaching the DHS secretary in early February. The Republican congresswoman accused Mayorkas of ignoring and “circumventing” the immigration laws written on the books, which she said has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.
“Wait, so you’re saying he just wasn’t following laws, so you were just re-passing them?” Keilar asked.
“No, not just following law —” Van Duyne attempted to reply.
“Which law? Which law specifically was he not following?” the CNN host interjected.
Van Duyne said Mayorkas didn’t approach migrant parole on a “case by case basis” but instead created a “mass parole.” She said Mayorkas’ alleged ignoring of the laws has led to the “deaths” of Americans and “damage untold” to the U.S. (RELATED: Here’s Why One Republican Voted Against Impeaching Mayorkas At The Last Minute)
“How so?” Keilar asked.
“I’m sorry?” the congresswoman asked.
“The deaths of tens of thousands of Americans,” Keilar said.
“Yeah, we’ve had over 110,000 Americans who have died of a result of fentanyl poisoning that has come in over our borders,” Van Duyne said. “We have had increases in crime across our country, in cities all across our country, where you’re looking at people who have been killed —”
“Okay, but don’t you mean … no, but they’re U.S. citizens. Ma’am, those are —ma’am, those are U.S. citizens bringing the fentanyl in. Aren’t you aware of this? An overwhelming, the vast majority, like the vast majority of fentanyl is coming in with American citizens,” Keilar argued.
“I know fentanyl’s coming in through our borders right now because the Mexican cartel —
“American citizens!” Keilar interrupted.
“[The Mexican cartel] are the best friends of Mayorkas and are the ones that want to keep him in power because the Mexican cartel right now are in charge of our southern border, and they are making billions of dollars from bringing in drugs, sex trafficking, human trafficking and child trafficking,” Van Duyne said.
“Using American citizens,” Keilar said.
Keilar continued arguing that American citizens are the ones smuggling fentanyl into the U.S.
“Let’s have an honest conversation here,” Keilar said, before the broadcast had to cut to Biden speaking.
Data shows that 86% of fentanyl trafficking convictions were U.S. citizens. Most of the fentanyl is trafficked via legal ports of entry at the southern border by American citizens, according to the Immigration Forum. Illegal drug smuggling organizations reportedly prefer selling the deadly drug to U.S. citizens, because U.S. citizens are less likely to undergo additional vetting or raise alarms when crossing the border.
The four Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas were Reps. Tom McClintock of California, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, Blake Moore of Utah and Ken Buck of Colorado. However, Moore voted “no” at the last second to avoid a 215-215 tie for technical purposes. If the vote would’ve resulted in a draw, Republicans wouldn’t have been able to bring it up again.