White House tried to stop Alejandro Mayorkas calling southern border migration surge a 'crisis' and considered firing the now-impeached DHS secretary, new report reveals | Daily Mail Online
By: Katelyn Caralle (Mail Online)
Uh oh..........................
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Alejandro Mayorkas is one of Republicans most loathed members of President Joe Biden's administration - becoming last week only the second-ever cabinet secretary impeached in U.S. history.
A new report Saturday includes officials detailing how the White House tried to stop the Homeland Security Secretary from calling the migration surge over the southern border a 'crisis.'
And three officials, according to the New Yorker report, claim it was floated in late spring 2023 that Mayorkas be fired to help reset the administration's messaging over the southern border.
Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House finally voted - by a margin of just one vote - to impeach Mayorkas. But the Democrat-led Senate is likely to acquit him.
This all comes amid record-breaking illegal immigration and migration across the southern border after Biden instructed Mayorkas to loosen Trump-era restrictions upon entering office in 2021.
A New Yorker article this weekend reveals the White House intentionally directed DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas to not called the surge at the southern border a crisis
The report notes that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain floated last spring potentially firing Mayorkas as a way to reset the messaging on handling of the southern border
In December 2023, the U.S. saw the largest-ever single day apprehension record with Customs and Border Protection coming in contact with 301,983 migrants crossing the southern border into the U.S.
Republicans blame Biden's lax policies for this surge, and claim Mayorkas is at fault as well for a dereliction of duty at the southern border and lying to the American people about the severity of the crisis.
During a March 2021 press conference, a reporter asked Mayorkas outright if there was a 'crisis at the border,' to which the DHS Secretary replied: 'The answer is no. I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing.'
This answer, according to the New Yorker article, was in accordance with White House instructions for Mayorkas to avoid using the word 'crisis' in his public appearances when discussing immigration.
It was obvious to most Americans and lawmakers alike that there was crisis with thousands of asylum-seekers arriving every day. And Mayorkas' wording at the time stuck even his most staunch defenders as awkward.
'I refuse to engage on battles of diction,' Mayorkas told The New Yorker when reached about his evasion of using the word 'crisis' at the time.
Additionally, three administration officials said that during a White House meeting last spring, Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain brought up potentially firing Mayorkas.
It was proposed, according to the officials, as a way to reset the narrative on the southern border and border security overall.
The House voted to impeach Mayorkas last week, making him only the second-ever cabinet secretary to be impeached in U.S. history
But one former official questioned who could possibly replace Mayorkas, who had the most experience on the issue.
'I never suggested firing Secretary Mayorkas,' Klain insisted to the New Yorker. 'I consider Ali a friend and a dedicated public servant.'
House Speaker Mike Johnson brought a floor vote to impeach Mayorkas last week, which was ultimately successful.
But now the issue goes to the Senate, which requires a two-thirds vote to convict and remove a secretary official from office.
Mayorkas was the first cabinet official to be impeached in nearly 150 years - and only the second to ever face that fate.
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Denial at its finest. Shame on you Biden Administration. Transparency my ass.
“Biden has considered an executive order that would dramatically stanch the record flow of migrants into the Southwest. This could even happen in the two weeks before the address, allowing Biden to say he took action while Republicans just talk.”
Biden literally admitted he has had the power to solve this crisis he created since day one.
He literally caused the crisis- so of course he has had the power to fix the crisis.
Democrats want to use border security and illegal immigration to leverage the most money they can for Ukraine.
Unfortunately McConnell and Establishment Senate Republicans keep caving and giving Brandon and the Democrats exactly what they want in exchange for nothing in return.
Abbott and DeSantis should quadruple the amount of buses they are sending out to swing states to show them the effects of Biden’s immigration policies and ask them if they are willing to pay for 4 more years of this?