Ted Cruz warns Biden's border safety chief he may very well be impeached over rise in migrant crossings – The Texas Tribune

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WASHINGTON — As GOP lawmakers proceed to antagonize the Biden administration over its immigration insurance policies, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that his dealing with of the southern border may very well be “grounds for impeachment.”

Cruz, together with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, sent a letter to Mayorkas on Tuesday blasting him for “gross dereliction of obligation” and citing record-high numbers of crossings on the southern border.

“These astronomically excessive numbers are due in no small half to the political determination to rescind plenty of President Trump’s insurance policies that have been stemming the stream of unlawful aliens and illicit medicine throughout the southern border,” Cruz and Graham’s letter mentioned. “Withdrawing the Stay in Mexico coverage, ending Title 42 expulsions, terminating border wall building contracts, and numerous different selections, coupled with your personal lax border insurance policies, act as ‘pull’ elements which have inspired thousands and thousands of aliens to undertake the harmful journey to the U.S.-Mexico border.”

The letter isn’t the primary time Cruz has sparred with Mayorkas, who has been a constant goal of conservative ire over immigration. He has repeatedly floated the concept of impeaching him on his podcast.

The Republican senators additionally mentioned Mayorkas was liable for the worsening of the opioid epidemic as DHS has “ceded management of our southern border to the cartels.”

DHS didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Texas has put ahead $4 billion to fund Operation Lone Star, which Gov. Greg Abbott launched in March 2021 to ramp up safety alongside the Texas-Mexico border. Abbott has made border safety the centerpiece of his reelection marketing campaign and has torched Biden administration officers for the rise in migrant crossings. However regardless of his efforts, the number of migrants that officials encounter at the southern border is higher today than it was earlier than the beginning of Operation Lone Star program.

The robust posture towards the DHS secretary comes as Republicans prep for doable management over the Home and Senate after the midterm elections. Whereas any legislative wins are unlikely with President Joe Biden within the White Home, one supply of leverage Republicans may acquire is management over congressional oversight.

Cruz previewed what his occasion would do with a majority within the Senate — which he described as 60% doubtless — in an appearance at The Texas Tribune Festival in September.

“You’ll have actual oversight,” Cruz mentioned in entrance of a crowd in Austin. “Senate Judiciary Committee — we haven’t had a single listening to on the chaos on the southern border. One of many first issues that’s prone to occur is I believe the Home will impeach Alejandro Mayorkas.”

Whereas he admitted the Senate would by no means have the ability to convict Mayorkas, he mentioned the worth within the impeachment can be having “an in depth trial on his absolute dereliction of obligation to place these information earlier than the American folks.”

It was not the primary time a Republican has put out the trial balloon for Mayorkas’ impeachment. Greater than a dozen GOP lawmakers have already lined up behind the concept of impeachment, according to CNN.