Reps. Andy Biggs (R-05) and Eli Crane (R-02), along with other House Republicans, failed to convince their colleagues to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis.
Biggs asserted that Mayorkas was in violation of the separation of powers, citing the secretary’s inaction on the removal of over one million illegal immigrants eligible for deportation, and neglect of Title 8.
“That has resulted in great injury to our communities, and that is why he must be impeached, because he falls within the definition of one of the Founders, James Iredell said, and he’s right on the money,” said Biggs.
The great James Iredell — one of our first Supreme Court Justices — said that “the power of impeachment is given by this Constitution to bring great offenders to punishment.”
He's right.
The House must use this leverage to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this evening. pic.twitter.com/eCKFy4f9M5
Despite the number of illegal immigrant crossings and drug trafficking reaching unprecedented record highs under President Joe Biden, Mayorkas has maintained that the border crisis originated from decades of congressional inaction rather than the policy of this current administration.
Mayorkas and other Democratic leaders support the $118 billion Senate bill described as a border bill, though a majority of the funding goes to Ukraine and other countries.
The bipartisan agreement in the Senate is tough, fair, and takes meaningful steps to address the challenges our country faces after decades of Congressional inaction. (1/10)
Lawmakers opposed to the bill pointed out its increased leniency for illegal immigration, such as a provision allowing those who either make it over 100 miles or remain longer than 14 days in the country to avoid deportation. The bill also would create a new, nonimmigrant visa subcategory enabling noncitizens to visit family members, as well as removing illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico or Canada out of total encounters.
The bill also included another $60 billion for Ukraine, while providing just over $20 billion for the border, over $14 billion for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid, over $6 billion for a variety of over projects, nearly $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific, and over $2 billion for the Red Sea conflict.
President Joe Biden claimed the bill wasn’t perfect: not because it didn’t close the border more for illegal immigration, but because it didn’t go far enough to grant citizenship for those illegal immigrants within the country.
This bipartisan national security bill may not address everything I would have wanted.
But the reforms in this bill are essential for making our border more orderly, more humane, and more secure. pic.twitter.com/Cz0OdaZkse
Some lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas would ignore limited enforcement measures passed.
During Tuesday’s debate on Mayorkas’ impeachment, Crane accused the secretary of that very inaction on immigration enforcement.
“How many Americans have to die of fentanyl, MS-13 gang members, having their kids raped and murdered?” asked Crane. “It’s high time that [Mayorkas] be held accountable for his complete dereliction of duty at our southern border.”
.@RepEliCrane on @SecMayorkas impeachment: "How many Americans have to die of fentanyl, MS-13 gang members, having their kids raped and murdered?… It's high time that Mayorkas be held accountable for his complete dereliction of duty at our southern border." pic.twitter.com/QWWscauaJt
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-04), in a joint statement with the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), called the impeachment a “sham,” and blamed Republicans for the state of the border.
The House GOP has relentlessly pursued a sham impeachment of @SecMayorkas, but they just rejected a strong, bipartisan border security bill without even reading it.
It’s shameful, and it’s Arizona communities that are paying the price.
Three Republicans — Reps. Ken Buck (CO), Mike Gallagher (WI), and Tom McClintock (CA) — joined Democrats in defeating the impeachment measure, 214-216.
However, House GOP leadership say that Tuesday’s vote wouldn’t be the last attempt at impeaching Mayorkas. A spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA) said he plans to whip more votes.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Most illegal immigrants crossing the border are released into the United States.
In a recent meeting with federal officials that was broadcasted by Fox News journalist Bill Melugin, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly “admitted that the current release rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally is ‘above 85%.’”
BREAKING: Per three Border Patrol sources who were in the room, while meeting privately with agents in Eagle Pass, TX today, DHS Sec. Mayorkas admitted that the current release rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally is “above 85%”. I’m awaiting comment from DHS.
Melugin added context in a later post, divulging his conversation with a DHS official on background, which did not amount to a denial of Mayorkas’ admission to Border Patrol agents. The Fox News reporter was able to share an official statement from the department, that read, “After the ending of Title 42 in May, through the end of the fiscal year, DHS removed or returned more noncitizens without a basis to remain in the United States than in any other five-month period in the last ten years. In fact, the majority of all Southwest Border migrant encounters throughout this Administration have been removed, returned, or expelled – the majority of them. We are doing everything we can, within a broken system, to incentivize noncitizens to use lawful pathways, to impose consequences on those who do not, and to reduce irregular migration.”
UPDATE: On background, a DHS official did not deny Mayorkas said this today, but said the context is that releases “ebb and flow”. They provided the following statement:
"After the ending of Title 42 in May, through the end of the fiscal year, DHS removed or returned more…
The crisis at America’s southern border has deteriorated out of control in the past year, after steadily expanding in the first two years of the Biden administration. In Fiscal Year 2021, which Biden inherited, there were 1,734,686 encounters at the Southwest Border. In FY 2022, there were 2,378,944 apprehensions, and then 2,475,669 in the just-completed fiscal year (2023) – a record number. Already in FY 2024, there have been 483,404 arrests of illegal immigrants – with December’s reported number of over ‘300,000’ encounters still outstanding from CBP’s official chart.
While these apprehension numbers are concerning, the figures do not represent the worst of the situation at the border. Almost two million ‘gotaways’ have been estimated to have entered the country since Biden took office in January 2021. Also, the amount of fentanyl seized at the border has increased over the years, leading to educated speculation that much more of this deadly drug is finding its way around law enforcement and into communities from coast to coast.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A Prescott mother blames Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for her daughter’s death.
In testimony to Congress on Thursday, Josephine Dunn explained that her daughter, Ashley, overdosed from fentanyl trafficked through the border in May 2021. Dunn testified on the day that would have been her daughter’s 29th birthday. Mayorkas declined to appear for that hearing.
“In my humble opinion, Mr. Mayorkas’ border policy is partially responsible for my daughter’s death. His wide-open border policy allows massive quantities of poisonous fentanyl into our country. Arizona is the fentanyl superhighway into the United States,” said Dunn. “We need to close the fentanyl superhighway; we need to close the border.”
The border crisis initiated under President Joe Biden ushered in a tidal wave of fentanyl trafficking. The surge in overdoses and deaths from the potent drug has resulted in its classification as an epidemic.
The fatal overdose of Dunn’s daughter prompted several attempts to pass an eponymous law in the state legislature, the Ashley Dunn Act, to charge drug dealers with homicide if their product contributed to the death of a user. State Rep. Quang Nguyen (R-LD01) carried the law both times.
Lawmakers have shot down the bill during both the 2022 and 2023 sessions. Some have contended that the law would be unconstitutional since it allows homicide charges for individuals whose actions weren’t a direct cause for the victim’s death. Former users also have argued that such a bill would strip accountability from the users themselves. Proponents argued that it would result in fewer drug deaths and deter distributors from selling lethal drugs.
In response to Dunn’s testimony, Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) noted that the current Biden administration tasks Border Patrol with taking in and taking care of illegal immigrants more so than preventing illegal migration.
“The Biden Admin has tied the hands of our Border Patrol and sabotaged our national security,” said Crane. “The money the Biden Admin is requesting for ‘border security’ would be used to process more aliens into our communities NOT for protecting Americans.”
The Biden Admin has tied the hands of our Border Patrol and sabotaged our national security.
The money the Biden Admin is requesting for "border security" would be used to process more aliens into our communities NOT for protecting Americans. pic.twitter.com/c4VQcLQvU4
According to Maricopa County, fentanyl constitutes 60 percent of all drug-related deaths and has become the deadliest drug in the state.
In 2023, the Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) documented over 1,600 confirmed opioid deaths in the state and over 4,000 non-fatal opioid overdoses. So far, the data indicates that there were less deaths than there were in 2022 and 2021, which had over 1,900 and over 2,000 opioid deaths respectively, but more overdoses: there were just over 3,400 opioid overdoses in 2022 and just over 3,700 overdoses in 2021.
Naloxone, the overdose reversal drug, was administered nearly 6,000 times this past year compared to over 8,000 times in 2022 and over 7,100 times in 2021.
However, AZDHS noted that the data may not be complete for the months of September through December of last year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On January 24th, the Mesa Public School Board chose to maintain a relationship with and send district funds to the National School Board Association (NSBA). They might as well have also given parents the middle finger.
In September 2021, the NSBA sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting that it deploy the force of the federal government to put down angry parents speaking out at school board meetings. The letter called on the administration to use resources from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, National Threat Assessment Center, FBI National Security Branch, and FBI Counterterrorism Division. The letter equates parents speaking out at school board meetings with domestic terrorists! Immediately and dutifully, the DOJ responded by sending out a directive to FBI field offices to create a partnership with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement to address the problem.
A full 5 months later, the Arizona School Board Association (ASBA) came to the correct conclusion—that the NSBA does not represent the values it believes are necessary to advance education in the state. As a result, they sent a letter to the NSBA severing all relations with them.
Yet, one month later in March 2022, the Mesa Public School Board voted unanimously to send board member Kiana Sears to the 2022 NSBA Annual Conference. Then in September, the board again voted unanimously to send board member Sears to two additional NSBA sponsored training sessions: the Counsel of Urban Board Educators in Miami, FL and the NSBA Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C. And at its latest meeting on January 24th, the board voted to approve sending board member Sears to the 2023 NSBA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL.
As a concerned Mesa taxpayer, I asked at that meeting that the vote on this item be pulled from the consent agenda. I was hoping that the board would do so to send a clear message to parents that their voice is valued and appreciated. Instead, the board voted 3-1 in favor of sending district money and board member Sears to the NSBA.
The one shining exception to this insult to parents was board member Rachel Walden. Mrs. Walden boldly voted no, keeping her campaign promise to be the voice for parents on the school board.
Mrs. Walden is one of many newly elected school board members across the state who ran for office after the COVID shutdowns—when “distance learning” gave parents a glimpse into the classroom and exposed the failures of school boards. Walden correctly stated what should be obvious, “I feel we do have an obligation to build a sense of trust with our parents. They are stakeholders in this. When we have an entity working with the government to put down the First Amendment rights of parents, then I think we would want to disassociate ourselves with that entity as much as possible.”
But Board President Marcie Hutchinson disagreed, stating, “The NSBA probably mis-stepped.” PROBABLY!?
She continued, “But anytime we make a decision, we have to weigh costs versus benefits, and I believe that the benefits that we as board members can receive, and therefore transmit to our district, far exceed the cost of an association with a group that supports public education.”
President Hutchinson seems to have completely misunderstood the “cost.” The actual cost is not “association with a group that supports education.” The cost is choosing to associate with the group that thinks concerned parents speaking out at school board meetings should be treated, by the full force of federal law enforcement, like domestic terrorists.
The Mesa Public School Board doesn’t get it, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Across the country, parents are speaking out against the questionable decisions of school boards and the resulting abysmal academic performance. And while, it is becoming increasingly obvious that governing boards are not inclined to hold themselves accountable, you can make a difference. You can have your voice heard by showing up and speaking up at board meetings. You can email board members with your concerns. And you can get involved with the election of our school board members. The future of our schools—and our children—depends on it.
Ed Steele is a husband, father, grandfather, and Mesa resident with a passion for helping the younger generation succeed in education.
The White House’s denial that migrants are walking across the border sparked backlash from Governor Doug Ducey and Border Patrol (BP) leaders.
This week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that illegal immigrants don’t merely walk across the southern border. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy had asked Jean-Pierre why the unvaccinated traveling by plane were refused admission into the U.S. while unvaccinated illegal immigrants could walk into the U.S. and stay.
“It’s not like somebody walks over — that’s not how [it works],” responded Jean-Pierre.
Watch what happens when Peter Doocy asks Karine Jean-Pierre why illegal aliens are released into the country even if they don't have the COVID vaccine, but Novak Djokovic isn't allowed in for the U.S. Open: pic.twitter.com/Jdqmo0IpEN
Jean-Pierre’s denial prompted Ducey to call the White House “clueless.” He stated that the Biden administration’s negligence further affirmed his decision to finish Yuma’s border wall himself. The state closed those gaps last week.
“If only President Biden visited the border, he’d see the mass amount of migrants walking across the border,” wrote Ducey.
The White House is clueless. If only President Biden visited the border, he’d see the mass amount of migrants walking across the border.
This negligence is exactly why Arizona took action to close the border wall gaps near Yuma. 1/ https://t.co/9XQdJe5OJU
The denial prompted similar criticism from the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). Jean-Pierre’s denial — along with discovery this week of BP Chief Raul Ortiz’s admission in July that Biden’s border policies lacked consequences for illegal immigration — prompted NBPC to demean the Biden administration as the “Barney Fife” administration, a slang term for ineptitude and incompetence.
“[This administration is] importing millions of fraudulent ‘asylum’ seekers,” declared the NBPC. “This mess will take decades to clean up, if it can ever be cleaned up.”
We've been saying it for nearly 2 years. The Barney Fife Administration is single-handedly causing the disaster on our border. They're importing millions of fraudulent "asylum" seekers. This mess will take decades to clean up, if it can ever be cleaned up.https://t.co/bzth4Pv4uB
Along with the historic number of illegal crossings, there have been historic highs of drug trafficking. Earlier this month, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported that fentanyl, meth, and heroin seizures increased greatly from June to July.
CBP Releases July 2022 Monthly Operational Update
In July, fentanyl seizures at Arizona Ports of Entry were up 218% over June. The number of fentanyl seizures also increased by 128%.
As AZ Free News reported at the beginning of this month, hard drugs have largely replaced marijuana for drug smugglers. The main substance seized by far is fentanyl.
NEW: @CBP agents at the Nogales, AZ port of entry seized 625,000 fentanyl pills in five smuggling busts over the weekend, including another 12,000 that were rainbow colored to have a similar appearance to candy or ecstasy. Agents also seized 4lbs of fentanyl powder. @FoxNewspic.twitter.com/Orr38BdFXR
What’s more, smugglers are now disguising fentanyl with rainbow coloring to look like candy or ecstasy, dubbed “rainbow fentanyl.” On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an official warning that the rainbow fentanyl has been discovered in 18 states. Officials warned that drug traffickers are targeting children and young adults with the rainbow fentanyl to spark addiction.
NEW: The DEA has put out an official notice warning Americans of the “alarming” new trend they began seeing this month w/ rainbow colored fentanyl being smuggled into the country & appearing 18 different states. They say cartels are using it to appeal to children & young people. pic.twitter.com/tTtTK85u2B
It appears that the White House isn’t the only leadership sector apparently unconcerned with the state of the border. A source informed the Daily Caller on Monday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was vacationing in Maine.
NEW: A source tells me DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas is currently on vacation in South Casco, Maine while the border crisis continues to get worse and worse every day. He had security surrounding him at a picnic tonight. Yet, our border is being flooded with drugs and criminals.
