Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas conceded to Congress for the first time that the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border does, in fact, constitute a “crisis.”
Testifying under oath before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Mayorkas made the admission after repeatedly refusing in previous appearances before Congress to acknowledge the scale of the problems caused by the record surge in illegal immigration that he’s presided over. Wednesday’s hearing marked the embattled Cabinet official’s first congressional testimony since he was impeached by the House in February.
“Mr. Secretary, you dance around calling the crisis at our southern border not only a humanitarian crisis but a crisis,” Representative Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa) said during the hearing. “If you do not see it as that, why are you deploying our federal air marshals or FAMS to the southern border?”
“Congresswoman, I do understand the challenges at the border. I certainly don’t dance around them, as a matter of fact,” Mayorkas said.
“Would you call it at a crisis at the southern border?” Hinson asked.
“Yes, I would,” Mayorkas responded. “And as a matter of fact, I work every single day with the men and women in the Department of Homeland Security to only strengthen the security of our southern border, as well as the northern border.”
Hinson called the admission “an important step, but what he does next is even more important,” the congresswoman posted on X. “Will he walk his admission back or will he start enforcing immigration policy & secure the border?”
While this was the first time he’s acknowledged the border crisis before Congress, Mayorkas first admitted it in an interview with NBC News two months ago.
“It certainly is a crisis,” Mayorkas told Meet the Press host Kristin Welker in February. “We don’t bear responsibility for a broken system, and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system. But, fundamentally, fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix that.”
The DHS chief’s latest congressional testimony comes as he faces a looming impeachment process that has yet to be considered before the Senate. The House was initially supposed to send its articles of impeachment to the Senate on Wednesday, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) decided to postpone the transfer to Monday.
“To ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week. There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,” said Taylor Haulsee, a spokesperson for Johnson.
Johnson made the move at the request of Senate Republicans who said they needed extra time to build their argument for a full trial, considering Senate Democrats will likely dismiss both articles of impeachment against Mayorkas at the trial’s start. Mayorkas’s impeachment trial is expected to start next week unless Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) tries to table the procedure, which is what Republican senators fear will happen once the articles are delivered to the upper chamber.
In the two articles of impeachment, House Republicans accuse Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration and border security laws and allege he has lied to Congress about the border being “secure” under his watch as the DHS secretary.