Congressman Biggs Moves to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

Congressman Biggs Moves to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

By Corinne Murdock |

Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) announced on Friday that he will file articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the burgeoning border crisis.

In a press release, Biggs called Mayorkas a threat to the country. Biggs intends to file the articles of impeachment in the coming weeks. The congressman hasn’t specified a date.

“Secretary Mayorkas is a threat to the sovereignty and security of our nation. As a result of his actions and policies, America is more in danger today than when he began serving as Secretary. He is willfully refusing to maintain operational control of the border and is encouraging aliens to enter our country illegally,” stated Biggs. “Under his direction, DHS is systematically releasing COVID-19 positive aliens into our communities, subjecting the American people to unnecessary and avoidable risks. Secretary Mayorkas is failing to faithfully uphold his oath of office and is presiding over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, at the expense of the U.S. Constitution and the security of the United States.”

Mayorkas hasn’t issued a response to Biggs’ promise.

AZ Free News reached out to both Biggs and Mayorkas for comment. Neither responded by press time.

Another leading the charge on Mayorkas’s removal is Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX-21). Last Monday, Roy advocated for Mayorkas’ impeachment.

“It’s time to draw a line in the sand, for the sake of our country, our communities, our kids, and those who seek to come here. It’s time to impeach @SecMayorkas for failing to uphold immigration law, enforce Title 42, and secure our border,” said Roy. “We demand a secure border and safe neighborhoods. It’s our country. These are our terms.”


https://twitter.com/chiproytx/status/1422278133470973961

As context for his call to impeach Mayorkas, Roy cited the preliminary border patrol numbers on illegal immigrants for July. This included over 205,000 encounters, with 37,400 total known “gotaways.” For the fiscal year 2021, there are 1.3 million of those so far.

Gotaways are illegal immigrants that are observed breaching the border but not apprehended.

Roy noted that these totals reflect the largest monthly encounter for illegal immigrants in all of DHS history. The current total is bigger than every full-year total since last year. In addition to that data, Roy shared that agents and officers have seized over 8,500 pounds of fentanyl during the first nine months of fiscal year 2021 – enough to kill every American citizen five times over.

Then on Monday, Rody led 21 House Republicans to demand answers on the Biden Administration’s border crisis from Mayorkas and DHS on Monday.

“[The] numbers are appalling and are a direct result of the Biden Administration’s weak border policies and your lackluster performance as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS’s mission is ‘with honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, our values.’ Frankly, you are not fulfilling that mission,” wrote Roy. “The southern border is in crisis despite the Biden Administration’s refusal to call it what it is. The American people can see the numbers, and Americans in communities across the nation are feeling the burden of our open borders.”

The House Republicans requested information including any executive orders to repeal or rescind policies in effect before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the total number of illegal immigrants (including children) and their demographics, the number of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Office of Field Operations agents who were reassigned from border patrol sectors to shelters detaining illegal immigrants, the number and handling of COVID-19 positive illegal immigrants, and information on all illegal immigrant shelter operations and their funding.

Biggs didn’t sign onto Roy’s letter.

Representatives Randy Weber (R-TX-14)), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX-24), Michael Cloud (R-TX-27), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Gregory Steube (R-FL-17), Doug Lamborn (R-CO-05), Troy Balderson (R-OH-12), Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06), Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16), Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), David Rouzer (R-NC-07), Dan Bishop (R-NC-09), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Bob Good (R-VA-05), Barry Moore (R-AL-02), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC-11), and Jody Hice (R-GA-10) signed onto the letter.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinnejournalist@gmail.com.

Arizona Congressmen Offer Bill To Eliminate The Optional Practice Training Program

Arizona Congressmen Offer Bill To Eliminate The Optional Practice Training Program

Congressmen Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar introduced a bill last week, the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act, which will amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the Optional Practice Training Program. The “OPT” Program, administered by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a guest worker program that was never authorized by Congress.

OPT was greatly expanded by the Obama Administration. It circumvents the H-1B cap by allowing over 100,000 aliens admitted as foreign students to work for up to three years in the United States after graduation, according to the congressmen.

The foreign workers are exempt from payroll taxes making them at least 10-15 percent cheaper than a comparable American worker.

“What country creates a program, but not a law, that rewards its businesses to fire citizen workers and replace them with foreign labor to pay the foreign labor less? The United States,” said Gosar in a press release. “The program is called OPT and it reflects a complete abandonment of our own workers.”

“At a time when American college graduates are struggling to find a job and many are saddled with student loans, our government should not be incentivizing foreign employees over Americans. This badly flawed government program should be eliminated,” said Gosar.

According to Rosemary Jenks, Director of Government Relations for NumbersUSA, the OPT Program “invented entirely through executive action, has become one of the largest guest worker programs in the United States. OPT openly undercuts American workers, particularly higher-skilled workers and recent college graduates, by giving employers an actual tax incentive to hire compliant, inexpensive foreign labor under the guise of “student training.”

“Landing that first job out of college will only become more difficult for young Americans as our universities formalize the role they play in crowding out opportunities once reserved for American graduates. For this reason, OPT must be eliminated. I praise the efforts of Congressman Paul Gosar in drafting the Fairness for High Skilled Americans Act and encourage his colleagues in both the House and Senate to join him in protecting opportunities for America’s STEM graduates,” stated Kevin Lynn, Founder of U.S. Techworkers.

Congressman Gosar first introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act in the 116th Congress and has twice signed amicus briefs in support of American workers in their lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to eliminate OPT.

Biggs Introduces Companion Bill To Paul’s To Repeal Travel Mask Mandate

Biggs Introduces Companion Bill To Paul’s To Repeal Travel Mask Mandate

By B. Hamilton |

Congressman Andy Biggs introduced last week the House companion legislation to Senator Rand Paul’s Travel Mask Mandate Repeal Act of 2021. The bill prohibits the imposition of mask mandates on public transportation.

The House version is currently cosponsored by Congressman Randy Weber (TX-14), Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09), Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-04), Congressman Bob Gibbs (OH-07), Congressman Chip Roy (TX-21), Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX-01), and Congressman Lance Gooden (TX-05).

“There is no scientific evidence for the continuation of mask mandates on public transportation. Bottom line, mask mandates are old news, and are only being kept in place by those who relish controlling our day-to-day lives. The viral spread is collapsing and our normal lives are returning. It’s time for the CDC to follow the science and end the tyrannical COVID-19 restrictions once and for all,” said Biggs in a press release.

“The federal government forcing the American people to continue to wear masks despite the fact that we’ve already reached herd immunity is ridiculous and needs to end immediately,” said Dr. Paul. “I am introducing the Travel Mask Mandate Repeal Act of 2021 to put a stop to this nanny state mandate of requiring masks on public transportation. In a free country people will evaluate their personal risk factors and are smart enough to ultimately make medical decisions like wearing a mask themselves.”

“It’s time to recognize the never-ending government mask requirements as the political theater they are. Americans are capable of making their own decisions; it’s time to choose freedom over fear,” said Roy.

“The mask mandate is just another overreach by the power-grabbing administration. Americans make calculated decisions about their health risks every day, and through our combined efforts, we’ve virtually reached herd immunity. Given the air-circulation technology utilized on most modern airplanes, not to mention the science that corroborates the effectiveness of these innovations, it’s about time that we return to pre-pandemic normalcy by removing this—sometimes arbitrary—restriction from the flying public,” argued Weber.

“CDC Director Walensky said last month that those who are fully vaccinated are fully protected from the variants of COVID-19, including the ‘delta’ variant,” said Gibbs. “The science has made clear how effective the vaccines are and we are reaching the point at which those choosing to remain unvaccinated have taken on that risk to themselves, not to anyone else. We cannot only ‘follow the science’ when it is politically convenient and ignore it, like we are now, when it no longer conforms to bureaucrats’ desire for power. Continuing to punish those who have been fully vaccinated makes as much sense as defunding the police after violent crime incidents have spiked. If the TSA and CDC won’t rescind this mandate, it’s time for Congress to act.”

“The American people have been battling COVID-19 for over a year, and our lives are finally starting to get back to normal. As our states and communities lift restrictions and remove mask mandates, the federal government should take a note from those states’ playbooks. I am joining Representative Andy Biggs in the fight against the unnecessary federal mask mandate that requires citizens to wear masks on public transportation,” stated Clyde.

“Time and again we see Democrats flouting the rules to go maskless when it suits them; they are so desperate to maintain nanny state conditions that hypocrisy and fear tactics are all they have left to exercise control over the masses,” said Gooden. “Whether it’s masking or vaxxing, every American should be able to make their own choices without government interference.”

Congressman Biggs Moves to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

Biggs Wants Biden To Answer Questions About Offensive Airstrikes on the Iraq-Syria Border

On Monday, Reps. Andy Biggs and Barbara Lee, sent a letter to President Biden questioning the administration’s decision to conduct offensive airstrikes on the Iraq-Syria border. The two Representatives raised questions as to the constitutionality and necessity of the strikes.

As noted in their letter, “on June 27, 2021, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that the U.S. had conducted a military operation against operational and weapons storage facilities in Iraq and Syria. The DOD’s announcement stated, “[a]t President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region.”

The Representatives claim that the DOD announcement “contained little specific information about what threat precipitated this strike.”

According to Biggs and Lee, Congress “remains underinformed” about said threat.

“Our Constitution gives the authority to declare war only to Congress. It is implied that the President has limited authority to act to defend our national interests in exigent circumstances. The Executive Branch has no authority conducting offensive strikes without Congressional approval. The Biden Administration has taken offensive action in the recent airstrike on the Iraq-Syria border without bringing this to Congress for approval. Without appropriate justification of an imminent threat to the United States, it is clear that President Biden exceeded his constitutional authority,” said Biggs in his announcement.

Full letter below:

July 12, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Biden,

The recent U.S. airstrikes on the Iraq-Syria border raise major constitutional concerns. We request that you brief Members of Congress on the threats faced by our troops overseas and the specific imminent threat that precipitated this use of military force.

On June 27, 2021, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that the U.S. had conducted a military operation against operational and weapons storage facilities in Iraq and Syria. The DOD’s announcement stated, “[a]t President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region.” The DOD announcement contained little specific information about what threat precipitated this strike.  In the weeks since the attack, Congress remains underinformed about said threat.

When President Trump conducted the airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, you said that his administration’s assertion that the strike was conducted in self-defense was not adequate because his administration did not supply “the necessary evidence to support that conclusion”. Your administration’s claim that this recent action was necessary to defend our troops likewise must be accompanied by evidence necessary to support the conclusion that our troops were in danger in this instance.

In your notification to Congress, you said, “I directed this discrete military action consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.” The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power to declare war, and the president the power to prosecute the war. The Constitution does not give the president, as “Commander in Chief,” unlimited power to make war. As President Washington put so eloquently, “The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore, no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.” Article II of the Constitution only gives the President the power to repel immediate or imminent threats, it does not give the Executive Branch the power to conduct a war without congressional approval.

We would appreciate a written reply to the following questions:

  • What notification did the administration provide to Members of Congress before launching this airstrike?
  • What immediate threat did our troops face that drove the conclusion that immediate military action was the necessary and appropriate response?
  • How does your administration define “immediate” or “imminent” when assessing threats?
  • Do you believe that Article II gives the Executive Branch unlimited power to decide when to engage in military strikes in foreign nations? Why?

If these questions cannot be provided in written form due to national security concerns, we request a classified briefing in which the information can be shared. We look forward to hearing from you ahead of August 1. Thank you for your prompt response, and your willingness to work with us to restore Congress’ preeminent Constitutional role over decisions of war and peace.

Sincerely,

Andy Biggs
Member of Congress

Barbara Lee
Member of Congress

Arizona’s Republican Congressional Delegation Denounces Possible Door-To-Door Vaccination Inquiries

Arizona’s Republican Congressional Delegation Denounces Possible Door-To-Door Vaccination Inquiries

By Terri Jo Neff |

Criticism continues to mount in response to comments by President Joe Biden earlier this month about public health professionals possibly going door-to-door across the country to encourage people to receive one of the COVID-19 vaccinations.

Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs joined with 31 other lawmakers who comprise the House Freedom Caucus in sending a letter to Biden last week, calling it “deeply disturbing” that the federal government may be in the process of tracking the private health information of millions of Americans. Other Arizonans in the House Freedom Caucus who signed the letter were Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Debbie Lesko, and Rep. David Schweikert.

“There is no scenario where the federal government should be actively entering communities and traveling door-to-door to pressure Americans to receive a vaccine,” the July 9 letter states. “COVID-19 vaccine information is widely available throughout the country, and Americans have every ability to decide for themselves whether or not they should receive a vaccine.”

The letter was prompted by the President’s July 6 comments about the possibility of members of the U.S. COVID-19 Response Team going ““community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood and oftentimes door-to-door, literally knocking on doors, to get help to the remaining people.”

The letter asks for a response by July 23 to a series of questions related to what activities the Biden Administration has undertaken, or plans to undertake, connected to vaccination databases.

Biggs, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, made additional comments after the letter was sent.

 “Instead of meddling in private medical decisions, the Biden administration should focus on addressing the border crisis, the rampant rise in inflation, and the crime wave that is plaguing American cities – all crises it created,” Biggs said. “The door-to-door spying on Americans is one more example of the burgeoning surveillance state by the national government.”

 The House Freedom Caucus letter is just the latest criticism directed at Biden’s comments. Two more governors spoke out late last week about the suggestion of personal reach-out to unvaccinated Americans.

“The prospect of government vaccination teams showing up unannounced or unrequested at the door of ‘targeted’ homeowners or on their property will further deteriorate the public’s trust,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement.

In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson tweeted that “sending government employees or agents door-to-door to compel vaccination” would not be an effective nor welcome strategy in his state.

But despite the criticism, the prospect of a “who has been vaccinated” database may not be difficult to create. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) have been behind a COVID-19 tracking smartphone app that was been promoted by tens of thousands of doctors and nurses.

Called v-safe, the app is described as an after-vaccination “health checker” which users register with to answer surveys about side effects and to report dates of vaccinations. Parents can also register dependents under their v-safe account.

“Your healthcare provider will give you an information sheet on v-safe that explains how to register and get started,” according to the CDC website. “Through v-safe, you can quickly tell CDC if you have any side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Depending on your answers to the web surveys, someone from CDC may call to check on you and get more information.”

As to the confidentiality of a v-safe user’s information, the CDC website notes that “to the extent v–safe uses existing information systems managed by CDC, FDA, and other federal agencies, the systems employ strict security measures appropriate for the data’s level of sensitivity.”