Accountability, the ability to take responsibility for one's actions and respond satisfactorily, has long been missing from the Biden administration's response to the surge in illegal immigration at the Southwest border.

House Republicans this week began efforts to restore lost accountability by starting impeachment hearings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. long time no see. (Related: Chad Wolf and Robert Roe: Americans don't want to be complicit in human trafficking at the border)

There's no denying that the Southwest border is at risk. December numbers have been released, and they're not only bad, they're actually the worst on record, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) More than 300,000 aliens appeared last montha record high for a single month.

and the government report Last year, there were 2,475,669 encounters at the Southwest border, the highest annual total ever.

Since Joe Biden became president and began his open border policy, CBP has encountered more than 7 million foreign nationals crossing the Southwest border and then released the vast majority of them into the country under some type of regulation. did.

The situation is so bad that on Monday Mayorkas Allowed entry to Border Patrol agents “More than 85%” of illegal immigrants are released into the country after being apprehended at the southwest border, he said.

To make matters worse, the number of arrests at the southwest border on the U.S. government's official terrorist watch list is increasing. 169 people on the watch list were arrested in the previous year, and a further 98 people were arrested in the previous year, 2022. Now that we are at war with Israel and the United States strongly supports Israel, terrorists could, if wise, take advantage of our porous borders to enter the United States with the intent of launching terrorist attacks from within. We will need to redouble our efforts to secure our borders. .

Despite these harsh facts, Mr. Mayorkas has repeatedly told Congress under oath that the border is “secure” and that the U.S. government maintains operational control of the border. (Related: Betsy McCaughey: Your tax dollars are paying lawyers to invent more “rights” for immigrants)

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-Tenn.) opposes this. Green said last week.“The greatest domestic threat to national security and the safety of the American people is Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,” he said in Eagle Pass, Texas, during a trip to the border with more than 60 Republican members of Congress. He has defied and overturned laws. He has defied multiple court orders. He has lied to the U.S. Congress multiple times. He has blatantly and clearly lied under oath. He has broken his oath to protect this country…It is clear that this is intentional…The source of the problem is Alejandro Mayorkas.”

Greene is leading the impeachment effort against Mayorkas. On Wednesday, he held the committee's first impeachment hearing.

The hearing, titled “Chaos at the Center: The Impact of Secretary Mayorkas' Failed Leadership on States,'' asked the attorneys general of Montana, Oklahoma, and Missouri that Secretary Mayorkas is ensuring national security. This gave them an opportunity to discuss the impact of what they were unable to do from their perspective. border.

Some wonder what impeachable crimes Mayorkas may have committed. green has the answer: “Constitutional history is overwhelmingly clear on this matter: The Founders did not design impeachment simply to remove officials who engaged in criminal conduct; “It was intended to impeach someone who had exposed himself to the public, betrayed the public's trust, or committed the crime of grave incompetence. This is a dereliction of duty,” he said at the beginning of the hearing.

“Secretary Mayorkas brazenly refused to implement legislation passed by Congress that intentionally made our country less safe,” Greene continued. “What we are seeing here is a willful violation of the oath of office by Secretary Mayorkas.”

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen agrees.. “[T]The reality is that as long as Secretary Mayorkas remains in office, no amount of money or resources can change the current situation. It's not negligence or incompetence. It is ideology and fortitude. By intentionally and intentionally failing to enforce our nation's immigration laws, Secretary Mayorkas violated his oath of office and betrayed the trust placed in him by the American people. ” (RELATED: Exclusive: Kamala Harris has not called Guatemala in recent months to discuss immigration, Central American country says)

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey agreed: “Secretary Mayorkas has resigned his office, either at the direction of his superiors or of his own volition. He has failed to uphold his oath of office. He has failed to enforce our nation's immigration laws. And he has failed in his mission to secure our borders. failed to do the most basic thing.”

The 2019 House Judiciary Committee (note, chaired by New York Democratic Rep. Gerald Nadler) explained the term during the first Trump impeachment.
The term “serious crimes and misdemeanors'' under the Constitution refers to “acts committed by public officials using their power or privilege that seriously damage the political order of our country.''

The bill would protect executive branch officials “for gross misconduct” and “those who have abused, abdicated, or pursued personal gain of the public trust, and who, if left in power, would It was intended to give Congress the power to remove anyone who threatens its rule.

Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 65 that impeachment “includes the misconduct of a public official, or, in other words, an offense arising from any abuse or breach of public trust.” They are of a nature that may with peculiar appropriateness be termed “political,'' since they relate primarily to the immediate injury inflicted on society itself. ”

Mr. Mayorkas abused his position. He failed to enforce the country's laws and actually destroyed them. He physically harmed himself politically.

He betrayed the public's trust. To restore his accountability and restore responsibility, Mr. Mayorkas should be impeached, convicted and removed from office.

Jenny Beth Martin is Chair Emeritus of Tea Party Patriots Action.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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