news

To Stephen Nelson

February 23, 2023 | 7:39 PM

YUMA, Arizona — An elated crowd inside Yuma City Hall on Thursday cheered the possible impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas.

Yuma County Oversight Board member Jonathan Lines testified at an open-air hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, which was boycotted by panel Democrats.

“Has Secretary Mayorcas lied to you?” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) asked Mr. Lines, one of three witnesses at the hearing.

“Yes,” Lines said to the laughter of the more than 200 people who had gathered for the hearing.

“What was the lie about?” Gates asked.

“The Mayor and I had the opportunity to visit Yuma with Commissioner Mayorcas. [Border Patrol] Sector Chief … almost a year ago at Sector Headquarters,” Lines said. “And at that meeting, he pledged to specifically address ‘9 of the 11 Yuma gaps’ after reviewing the border both from the ground and from the air.”

“And how many of those gaps have been addressed?” Gates asked.

“Have you ever dated? None. You can think of two infrastructures, but no one can stop you,” Lines said.

“Where the pressure points are gaping in the wall and where they are resisting doesn’t seem to be a big mystery. [Native American] Tribe,” Gates said — after touring two such gaps with members of the committee on Wednesday night.

Lines added that he believed Mallorcas had a “lack of will” to go through and seal walls left unfinished at the end of the Trump administration.President Biden said in January 2021 has halted all wall construction, but the White House said it would close the gap near Yuma in July.

“We have followed up with the Undersecretary many times, as well as with the Yuma Division of Border Patrol officers, and they have repeatedly said they are issuing contracts, and they should not issue them until June of last year at the latest. And then until September at the latest, and then until November at the latest.

“I waited patiently every time I called, but they kept going through this process. It’s not reasonable.”

The crowd erupted when Gates called for outstars for Lines’ testimony in Mallorcas.

“The day will soon come when Secretary Mayorcas will have to come and answer our questions. He will lie to us and he will lie to the American people,” Gates said. [Andy] Biggs’ article of impeachment against Secretary Majorcas is because this is a lack of will, not a lack of ability. “

When asked if Mayorkas had secured the border, Yuma Sheriff Leon Wilmont replied in one word: “No.”

Later in the hearing, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who was first elected to Congress as a Democrat in 2018 and switched parties the following year, plans to vote to impeach the Secretary of State. said. “

“Of course we applauded,” high school teacher Marva Alvarez told the Post.

“I couldn’t even attend to really see what the gap was,” Mayorkas said, adding, “He needs to get more information.” said Alvarez, who lives in

Another attendee, retired Donna Angel, sat near the witness table in a T-shirt promoting Nikki Haley’s 2024 Republican presidential nomination and said she supported the impeachment of Mallorcas. .

“We have a problem here, but he says we don’t,” said Angel, who lives outside Yuma, and during the Biden administration, homeland security checkpoints in the region’s interior He said he was particularly upset that the area was understaffed and that it was taking the area away from the second level of border security.

Republicans on the committee took turns speaking at the hearing tearing apart their Democratic colleagues for skipping the delegation’s visit to Yuma.

“Fentanyl alone should be a national emergency in America, and I can’t believe I don’t have a colleague across the aisle. [here]blushed Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisconsin).

The Biden administration has recently touted the amount of fentanyl seized along the border, with record amounts of powerful synthetic opioids capable of killing in doses the size of 10 grains of salt. I’m paying attention. Border authorities seized “over 23,000 pounds of fentanyl in the last few months.”

But Republican committee members pointed to record fentanyl death statistics, piercing Democrats’ claims that most of the fentanyl is being smuggled through legal ports of entry rather than through sections of the wallless frontier. I tried

At one point, Lines said the latest fentanyl seizure statistics showed an increase in the rate of discoveries between border stops. Combined with the reduction in the number of migrants passing through, this has allowed Border Patrol officers to pay more attention to drug traffickers.

From 2018 to 2021, fentanyl killed about 196,000 people in the United States. Fentanyl death data for 2022 is not yet available, but the death toll is expected to be near an all-time high as the compound is mostly sourced from China and smuggled in via Mexico. Increasingly, cocaine and counterfeit prescriptions are killing unwitting users.

The hearings focused on a wide range of border-related issues. Among them are unpaid medical bills to local hospitals, damage to local crops, violence by drug cartels, and alleged mistreatment of immigrants. ” or “indentured servant”.

The Biden administration has led a record surge in illegal immigration. up from 1.7 million In fiscal year 2021, there will be less than 500,000 in 2020 and nearly 1 million in 2019.

So far, fiscal year 2023 is on pace to set new records, with more than 762,000 Southwest border arrests recorded between October 1 and January 31. 18.3% increase from the same period one year ago. Reportedly, 1.2 million The famous “runaway” who escaped arrest during the first 24 months of the Biden administration, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Critics warn migrants to stay in Mexico to await court rulings on asylum claims, or ease Trump-era orders to expedite deportation of people who cross the border under the CDC’s COVID-19 rules. He blames the border crisis on Biden’s policies, such as ending policies that demand Biden officials say a policy similar to Trump’s “Stay in Mexico” program will be enacted in May and will replace CDC rules, though it’s unclear how strictly it will be enforced. .