CNN’s John Berman pushed back against Democratic New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez on Wednesday after Vasquez tried to claim Republicans are making the border crisis a “political issue.”
House Republicans are set to begin impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, CNN reported. A statement provided to CNN from a committee spokesperson says the Homeland Security Committee “conducted a comprehensive investigation” into Mayorkas’ handling of the “unprecedented crisis” and the House will be “conducting hearings and taking up those [impeachment] articles in the coming weeks.”
Berman asked Vasquez to weigh in on Mayorkas’ role.
“How would you assess the job that Secretary Mayorkas has done at the border?”
“I know the border very well and the issues are much more complicated than the Republicans make them out to be, in particular with the claims made against the secretary in this particular impeachment process,” Vasquez said. “In fact, I would call the proposal unserious. It’s not going to go anywhere. If anything, we need to be working in a bipartisan way, including with the administration and with Secretary Mayorkas to solve this humanitarian crisis and this just sets back those conversations.”
“What do these proceedings accomplish? Where does this put the status of negotiations?” (RELATED: Poppy Harlow Tells Mayorkas Point-Blank Not Even Democrats Are Supporting Biden’s Border Policies)
“What we’ve seen is that immigration is a hot political issue for Republicans and we’re going into an election year and they’re going to want to make this a political issue. Democrats like myself that represent border districts, and in fact, colleagues like Tony Gonzalez in Texas, who is leading part of that trip today, we know what is best for our communities in terms of the solutions that we need right here at the border. So this supplemental package has to include emergency funding for Customs and Border Protection, but also for the support of the national organizations that are supporting the relocation of these asylum seekers. There’s a crisis on the ground right now that many folks are facing, both on the local side but also those women and children who are coming here to our borders. We need to focus on what we can get accomplished in this deal and not what we can get accomplished in a political commercial 10 months from now.”
“Well it’s not just a political issue, though, right, I mean, it’s a genuine issue. You just called it a crisis,” Berman pointed out.
Berman then asked the congressman to explain why he has not put forward any legislation to change the asylum process.
Mayorkas is slated to visit Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 8 to witness border enforcement efforts. Eagle Pass has been hit particularly hard by the migrant crisis, with the Eagle Pass Fire Department reportedly spending more than $21,000 per day dealing with migrant-related emergencies. Fire Chief Manuel Mello told Fox News the town is receiving calls “from minor cuts and bruises to hypothermia to heart attacks to broken bones to even childbirth.”
Each call costs approximately $700, Mello said.
Migrant encounters at the southern border in December hit approximately 302,000, marking the highest month on record, ABC News reported.
Texas has tried to get a grip on the crisis, implementing a new law to arrest migrants who enter the country illegally, but the Department of Justice has threatened to sue the state if they enforce the law.