Former Trump administration border officials asked President Joe Biden to dismiss Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to protect the U.S., according to a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday.
Three Trump-era officials criticized Mayorkas for creating a crisis at the southern border and failing to provide support for border agents in a joint statement Wednesday. Mayorkas has “abjectly failed” to keep the U.S. secure over the last four months, the former officials said.
“Instead, he has presided over a reckless abandonment of enforcing America’s immigration laws and securing our borders,” former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan, former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan and former acting Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said in a joint statement.
The statement was released through the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform.
“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.” – FAIR’s President, Dan Stein. https://t.co/kODdKsirV3
— FAIR (@FAIRImmigration) May 19, 2021
Border officials encountered over 178,600 migrants at the souhern border in April, including around 17,100 unaccompanied children, according to the agency. The former officials said apprehensions are at a “historic high, while deportations are at an all-time low” because the Biden administration restricted their interior enforcement abilities.
“Mayorkas has shown that he is the wrong person to lead the Department of Homeland Security,” Cuccinelli, Homan and Morgan said in the joint statement. “Rather than providing the support and tools his agencies need to execute their fundamental missions, he has created an unmitigated crisis where both immigration enforcement and border security are almost non-existent.”
Mayorkas said the Trump administration didn’t prepare for a migrant crisis leaving the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ill-equipped to manage the numbers of unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the southern border. Over 20,000 migrant children were in federal custody as of Monday, according to HHS.
“The number of migrant children in federal custody is through the roof. Criminal cartels and human traffickers are proliferating and profiting at unimaginable levels,” the former officials said in a statement. “Not only is this not securing the homeland, it’s a complete abandonment of the brave men and women we once had the privilege to lead.”
The Biden administration announced a new federal project “Operation Sentinel” aimed at sanctioning transnational criminal organizations who smuggle migrants into the U.S. without regards to safety, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. (RELATED: Under Pressure From Activists, Biden Admin Agrees To Bring In Thousands Of Refugees A Month)
“Enough is enough,” Cuccinelli, Homan and Morgan said. “The nation needs a Secretary of Homeland Security who will actually secure the homeland and fix — not facilitate — the border crisis. Someone who will enforce the law, not reward or ignore lawbreakers. We’re running out of time, Mr. President. The American people are watching.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect FAIR’s relationship to the authors of the joint statement.
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