Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has "betrayed this nation, and he deserves to be impeached," Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee said Friday on Newsmax.
The remarks came one day after the secretary was not present while victims of violence wrought by illegal immigration testified as part of the secretary's impeachment proceedings.
"The Homeland Security Committee has laid out a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas," D'Esposito told "Wake Up America." "As someone who has spent a career in the NYPD, this is an investigation that I am proud of if I was still on the job … this is an investigation that I would be proud to present to a prosecutor."
Thursday's hearing, titled "Voices for the Victims: The Heartbreaking Reality of the Mayorkas Border Crisis," included testimony from Josephine Dunn of Arizona, whose daughter Ashley, 26, died from fentanyl poisoning in May 2021, and Tammy Nobles of Maryland, whose daughter, Kayla, was raped and murdered in July 2022 by a 17-year-old MS-13 gang member who was in the United States illegally.
Mayorkas was not at the hearing, citing meetings with Mexican officials over enforcement at the southern border.
D'Esposito said it is "sad and it's not shocking" that Mayorkas was not at the meeting, but "absence seems to be his M.O. He's been absent from his job as secretary of Homeland Security since he's taken his oath."
The congressman also rejected Democrats' arguments that politics are behind the push to impeach Mayorkas.
D'Esposito also Friday slammed questioning from Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who asked Dunn if she would agree that it would help stop the fentanyl trade to put more law enforcement officers at the border.
"He really showed himself yesterday while the two grieving mothers, one whose daughter was brutally raped and murdered by a member of MS-13 and the other mother whose daughter was killed from fentanyl coming over the southern border," said D'Esposito. "Dan Goldman didn't even have the ability to look them in the eyes but spent his time texting on his phone. He's a coward. He's a partisan hack, and he showed yesterday that he has no respect."
He also noted that Goldman supported New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg financially while the Manhattan prosecutor and Mayorkas are "similar."
"When they got their jobs, they thought that they had the ability to enforce the laws that they see fit," said D'Esposito. "Alvin Bragg thought that he could rewrite the penal code and just enforce the laws that he wants, and Alejandro Mayorkas does the same with the laws that Congress sent over to them."
The vote to recommend impeachment for Mayorkas is set for Jan. 31, which would bring the action to the floor against him by February, and D'Esposito said Republicans are working to gain the votes needed.
D'Esposito also on Friday ridiculed a call from freshman Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., for Republicans to introduce a bill to bring down the Statue of Liberty because they supported H.R. 2, the sweeping border policy legislation.
"Mr. Frost has just separated from reality," said D'Esposito. "He should focus on the real issues of his party and that is the fact that under Joe Biden, we've seen record inflation on their job. We have the poorest borders we've ever seen in our nation's history under Joe Biden, we have concerns of national security … I read polls every day, and I've yet to see one that mentions the Statue of Liberty as an issue facing the American people."
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