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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, on February 2, 2021, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took an oath that all of us in the Chamber have taken, an oath that many of us have taken who have served in the military--an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Yet here we are, 3 years later, with the worst border crisis our Nation has ever seen.
I rise today because we find ourselves at a critical moment in our Nation's history--a moment when the integrity of this very Chamber and its leadership is being tested, a time when we will see if our colleagues across the aisle are willing to do the right thing and hold Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for his dereliction of duty that has left our country a shell of what she once was.
Now with over 11 million border crossings, including 2 million unvetted ``got-aways'' now living here on U.S. soil--and amongst those are an unknown number of terrorists, violent gang members and drug cartels--Mayorkas has broken his oath, resulting in this dangerous and deadly invasion of our country. All you have to do is read your hometown news, and you are going to find a person in your community who has died from fentanyl or who has been physically abused or murdered by one of these unvetted illegal aliens.
From the moment Secretary Mayorkas took office, he has skirted the Constitution and broken the law as outlined in the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which clearly states he must maintain ``operational control'' and ``prevent unlawful entries into the United States.''
In the past 3 years alone, we have had nearly 2 million known ``got- aways'' successfully evade capture and enter our country--a number that includes hundreds of violent gang members and terrorists. To put that into perspective, the scale of this issue, today, over 800 ``got- aways'' illegally crossed into this country; yesterday, over 800 unvetted ``got-aways'' escaped into our country; and, tomorrow, 800 more unvetted aliens will end up here on U.S. soil, living in communities around the country. Maybe that is why law enforcement officers recently told me back home that we cannot arrest ourselves out of this crisis; that they are so overwhelmed by crime now related to these illegal crossings that we cannot arrest ourselves out of this predicament.
Secretary Mayorkas has given free rein to drug cartels to smuggle in illegal aliens and deadly drugs like fentanyl, resulting in the deaths of 300 Americans every day, with a total of over 250,000 fentanyl- related poisoning murders--deaths--occurring under his watch. That is three times more than the number of brave soldiers we lost in the Vietnam war--three times more.
The Secretary has turned a blind eye to the exploitation of our borders by terrorists, Chinese nationals, and other high-risk individuals, causing the largest influx of terrorist border crossings in our Nation's history.
And let us not forget the abuse and weaponization of parole and asylum. Secretary Mayorkas has illegally admitted nearly 800,000 aliens per year--800,000--under this parole compared to just 5,000 per year under President Obama or President Trump--800,000 versus 5,000 a year.
There is no question that the situation at our borders is dire and that the responsibility of this historic crisis lies squarely at the feet of those who have failed to address it.
Instead of fulfilling his obligation to the American people, Secretary Mayorkas has unraveled our national security, unleashed our border into chaos, and launched an unmitigated disaster and culture of lawlessness that has left Lady Liberty vulnerable to exploitation. His actions--or lack thereof--have endangered the safety of every American, and there must be consequences.
Congress must step in and do the job that President Biden refuses to do and fire Secretary Mayorkas. Enough is enough. Americans deserve better.
We are here today because we take our oath seriously. With the House managers delivering the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate Chamber today, I hope our colleagues across the aisle, who also took an oath to protect and defend our great Nation, will do the right thing. Let's bring this to a trial, let's debate his record, and for the sake of America's safety and security, let's impeach Alejandro Mayorkas.
Taking this decisive action will send a clear message to this administration: They will be held accountable for orchestrating this deadly invasion.
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