Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) has called for the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, citing his management of the record number of illegal aliens in the United States and significant reductions in deportations. Marshall, supported by Senators Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), presented a resolution for a vote of no confidence against Mayorkas, which Senate Democrats ultimately blocked.
Marshall’s resolution highlighted Mayorkas’s policy changes at DHS that have led to a surge in the illegal alien population and a dramatic decrease in interior immigration enforcement. According to Marshall, there are nearly 6.2 million illegal aliens in deportation proceedings but not detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a figure that has almost doubled from 3.2 million in 2020. Over 1.2 million of these individuals have final deportation orders but have not been removed.
Marshall criticized Mayorkas for undermining ICE officers and reducing the agency’s deportation capabilities. Under Mayorkas’s tenure, deportations of illegal aliens living in the U.S. interior have dropped significantly. In Fiscal Year 2023, ICE encountered over 3.2 million illegal aliens at the borders but deported only 142,580, indicating a less than five percent chance of deportation for illegal aliens within a year of their arrival in the U.S.
The senator also pointed out that ICE currently detains about 37,000 illegal aliens, despite having the capacity to hold around 50,000. Plans to close ICE detention facilities in Louisiana and California have been overseen by Mayorkas. Marshall emphasized Mayorkas’s role in the far left’s goal to defund and destroy ICE.
Additionally, Marshall criticized Mayorkas’s plans to implement the “Release and Reporting Management” (RRM) program and the ICE Secure Docket Card Program, which would provide photo ID cards to newly arrived illegal aliens. These programs, combined with the Case Management Pilot Program offering taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens, have been viewed as measures that undermine national sovereignty and public safety.
The call for Mayorkas’s impeachment reflects growing concerns about the handling of immigration policies and the impact on interior enforcement and national security.
