- A New Yorker article reveals that the White House deliberately instructed Mayorkas not to call the surge at the southern border a crisis
- Led to the 2021 fumble, with Mayorkas calling it a “challenge at the border.”
- The report notes that Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain floated around and fired Mayorkas as a way to reset the messaging on the handling of the southern border
Alejandro Mayorkas is one of the most hated Republican members of President Joe Biden’s administration — and last week became just the second Cabinet secretary to be ousted in U.S. history.
On Saturday, a new report includes officials describing how the White House tried to prevent the secretary of Homeland Security from calling the wave of migration across the southern border a “crisis.”
And three officials, according to the New Yorker reportclaiming that in late spring 2023, it was suggested that Mayorkas be fired to help reset the administration’s messaging on the southern border.
Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled House ultimately voted — by a margin of just one vote — to impeach Mayorkas. But the Democratic-led Senate is likely to acquit him.
All this comes amid record-breaking illegal immigration and migration across the southern border after Biden directed Mayorkas to ease Trump-era restrictions upon taking office in 2021.
An article in the New Yorker this weekend shows that the White House deliberately removed DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has not labeled the surge at the southern border as a crisis
The report notes that White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain floated last spring and possibly fired Mayorkas as a way to reset messaging on the handling of the southern border.
In December 2023, the US saw its highest number of apprehensions ever in a single day, with Customs and Border Protection coming into contact with 301,983 migrants crossing the southern border into the US
Republicans blame Biden’s lax policies for this surge, claiming Mayorkas is also guilty of 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 point-blank if there was a “crisis at the border,” to which the DHS secretary responded, “The answer is no. I think there is a challenge in the border that we are entering.’
This response, according to the New Yorker article, was in accordance with White House instructions to Mayorkas not to use the word “crisis” in his public appearances when discussing immigration.
It was clear to most Americans and lawmakers alike that there was a crisis with thousands of asylum seekers arriving every day. And Mayorkas’ formulation at the time struck even his most ardent defenders as clumsy.
“I refuse to engage in elocution battles,” Mayorkas told The New Yorker when approached about his avoidance of using the word “crisis” at the time.
In addition, three administration officials said Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain raised the possibility of firing Mayorkas during a White House meeting last spring.
It was presented, officials said, as a way to reset the narrative about the southern border and border security in general.
The House of Representatives voted to impeach Mayorkas last week, making him only the second Cabinet secretary to be impeached in American history.
But one former official wondered who could replace Mayorkas, who had the most experience in the field.
“I never proposed firing Secretary Mayorkas,” Klain insisted to the New Yorker. “I consider Ali a friend and a dedicated public servant.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson cast 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 majority 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.