Mayorkas visits border agents as Republicans demand his impeachment

Critics are sounding the alarm after Alejandro Mayorkas’ visit to El Paso failed to include a survey of flooded border areas or parts of the city where migrants sleep on the streets due to massive overcrowding in shelters.

While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary visited with Border Patrol agents and officials in El Paso, he did not discuss the dire situation for which Republicans claim he is responsible.

‘No, as far as I know and what I’m hearing from the ground, he [Mayorkas] he didn’t go to the border,’ National Border Patrol Council Chairman Brandon Judd told DailyMail.com.

He criticized Tuesday’s trip as a “waste of taxpayer dollars” after at least a few hundred migrants were released onto the streets of El Paso in a move Judd said was to prepare for Mayorkas’ visit and ” make it look like it wasn’t.” as bad as the situation really was.’

“I personally, and the agents I’ve spoken to, believe this was a completely wasted trip,” Judd said. ‘He didn’t go out there. He did not announce new programs, operations or policies to help control the situation. Frankly, we know there aren’t any.

Mayorkas met with Border Patrol agents and officials, including Border Patrol Chief Raúl Ortiz, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego.

The trip to El Paso comes after thousands have crossed into the city from Mexico in recent days. Pictured: Migrants cross the Rio Grande River into El Paso, Texas, to become Border Patrol agents on Tuesday, December 13.

“We don’t know what the purpose of his visit was,” he added. “We think it was just a waste of taxpayer money.”

Mayorkas met with the agents, as well as Border Patrol Chief Raúl Ortiz. He also had a meeting with El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego.

“Had a very productive meeting with El Paso Mayor Leeser and Judge Samaniego,” he said in a tweet that included pictures with the leaders. “El Paso’s commitment to tackling the challenges we face together is a model of partnership between the federal government and a frontline local community.”

DHS did not respond to a request from DailyMail.com for comment on the secretary’s movements during his trip to El Paso.

Some 498 migrants were told to leave an El Paso facility on Sunday and report to authorities for further immigration screening.

With nowhere to go, the migrants were forced to sleep on the ground in downtown El Paso, some using cardboard boxes as mattresses. Temperatures over the weekend plunged to a freezing 34F as migrants were forced to seek refuge on the streets.

Hundreds of migrants were left sleeping on the streets after being expelled from El Paso border facilities, which can only hold about 1,500 people at a time. Pictured: Migrants build a campfire near the border wall to keep warm as temperatures dipped to near freezing over the weekend

Migrants were photographed using cardboard boxes and mattresses to sleep in covered areas of El Paso streets on Monday, December 12.

Meanwhile, Mayorkas met with Border Patrol agents to “consider the different ways we can strengthen the security of our borders, enforce our laws and stay true to our values” and avoid visiting the physical border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Images emerged over the weekend and earlier this week of migrants trying to shelter from the elements with tarps and using cardboard boxes as mattresses.

The overcrowding at the El Paso detention center comes after an increase in border crossings in recent weeks. Between Saturday and Monday, the El Paso sector alone saw an average of 2,460 asylum seekers each day.

National Border Patrol Council Chairman Brandon Judd (pictured) told DailyMail.com: “I personally… think this was a completely wasted trip.” He did not announce any new programs, operations or policies to help control the situation.

Mayorkas did not inspect the streets where the migrants camp or visit the border area where thousands cross before the end of Title 42.

“I think it’s absolutely valuable to personally survey what’s going on because if you personally survey it you can ask the questions that need to be asked,” Judd said. ‘Without doing that, you can’t get that perspective.’

He also detailed that the El Paso Border Patrol had 5,000 people in custody over the weekend while their facilities in the city only have the capacity to house approximately 1,500 migrants at a time.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents a district that spans much of the southern Texas border, told CNN that the Biden administration does not understand the urgency of the immigration crisis. He also said he doesn’t understand why President Joe Biden doesn’t just visit the border and shut down detractors.

“I don’t know why they keep avoiding the border and saying that there are other things that are more important than investing in the border,” Cuéllar said. ‘If there’s a crisis, introduce yourself. Just show yourself.

Cuéllar pointed out that there is a backlog of 1.9 million cases in the immigration courts, which would take several years to resolve.

At the same time, Border Patrol is releasing at least hundreds of migrants daily into the US due to an inability to detain them while they await immigration proceedings and the processing of their asylum claims.

Agents are facing warnings that the end of pandemic-era Title 42 could also see a massive increase in migration at the southern border; one report predicts that daily numbers could reach 14,000 crossings.

Title 42 was a COVID-related policy signed into law by former President Donald Trump that allowed for the instant removal of asylum-seeking migrants who crossed the southern border illegally during the public health emergency.

A group of Republican lawmakers held a press conference Tuesday afternoon calling for Mayorkas’s removal. They claim he perjured himself by lying to the American people about the security of the southern border: Judd echoed the same sentiment.

“The problem is that he knows he can lie because he knows the vast majority of the media won’t verify it,” Judd lamented. ‘And if the facts are not verified, then his lies become the truth. And that is the problem we are facing today.

Nearly 20 House Republicans, led by Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, have renewed calls for Mayorkas to be removed from the DHS leadership. They laid out during their press conference a number of felonies and misdemeanors that they believe he has committed.

“I expect our party to seek impeachment next Congress,” Biggs said while flanked by other conservative lawmakers. His conduct is not incompetent. It is not negligent. It is deliberate and intentional.

The Arizona Republican, who launched a bid to become president when Republicans take control of the House in January, said Mayorkas ‘intentionally’ failed to maintain operational control of the border as defined by the Secure Fence Act of 2006. .

It also accused him of failing to apprehend illegal immigrants as required by law and has abused his “limited authority” to parole immigrants into the United States.

Mayorkas told Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas in April that he would “testify under oath” that DHS has “operational control of the border.”

Biggs said Mayorkas could likely be charged for lying to Congress on this front.