Nominations

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote on Alejandro Mayorkas, President Biden's nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security.

Up to this point, I have voted in favor of the President's mainstream nominees to key posts. I will have my differences with Secretaries Austin, Yellen, and Blinken on policy, but they were mainstream choices from the President.

Mr. Mayorkas is something else. He does not deserve Senate confirmation to lead Homeland Security. Frankly, his record should foreclose confirmation even to a lower post. The problem isn't experience--not exactly. Mr. Mayorkas is all too familiar with the levers of power that control U.S. immigration law. The problem is when he is chosen to pull those levers--and for whose benefit.

As a high-ranking official in the Obama administration, Mr. Mayorkas did his best to turn U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services into an unethical favor factory for Democratic Party royalty. Governors, a DNC chair, Hollywood executives, a Senate majority leader from Nevada--they all received special treatment to a degree that stunned and disturbed the Obama administration's own inspector general over at that Department. His independent report blasted the ``appearance of favoritism and special access.'' We are talking about shoving through green cards as political favors and intervening to overturn denials. The IG confirmed this wasn't just about speed; Mr. Mayorkas's improper influence actually changed outcomes.

This wasn't the first time this nominee abused an office for political purposes. Before his tenure at DHS, while U.S. attorney, the nominee had helped his fellow California Democrats get a well-connected L.A. drug kingpin onto President Clinton's infamous eleventh-hour pardons list. The drug dealer's father was a Democratic Party donor. Mysteriously, several notable California Democrats took an extremely keen interest in the case. Both Mr. Mayorkas and yet another one of President Biden's nominees, Mr. Becerra, came under scrutiny for their personal roles in the special treatment that was dished out to this donor's son.

When questioned about these actions, Mr. Mayorkas responded with false and conflicting statements, including while under oath. Reviews of USCIS under Mr. Mayorkas found intimidation and retaliation against employees when they were too focused on rooting out fraud instead of merely rubberstamping applications. According to some of his own employees, his leadership led to ``a culture of fear and disrespect.''

Does this sound like somebody who deserves a promotion?

Employees reported Mr. Mayorkas viewed the people applying to live here as the Agency's ``customers,'' whom it was their job to please and satisfy. They said the crucial goal that defined his approach was not enforcing American laws, protecting American jobs, or defending the American homeland, but rather ensuring there were ``zero complaints'' from the customers.

I will close with one observation. Last week, I heard the Democratic leader compare the confirmation timelines for Mr. Mayorkas versus Gen. John Kelly--an ethically compromised partisan lawyer versus a retired four-star general whom the Senate confirmed 88 to 11. The contrast could not be sharper. For one thing, I would say Secretary Kelly understood that our customers, first and foremost, are always the American people. It is, frankly, remarkable that someone with his record is even up for a Cabinet appointment.

I will be voting against this confirmation and urge our colleagues to do the same.

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