Mayorkas Defends His Border Crisis Efforts, Won't Let Impeachment "Distract" Him

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas talked to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about the historic impeachment, his work on the southern border, and Biden’s health following the special counsel Robert Hur’s report.

Historic vote

The House of Representatives impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on February 13, and he is now the first Cabinet Secretary to be impeached since 1876. Alongside Democrats against the impeachment were three Republicans, Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Tom McClintock, California representative.

Mayorkas claims he won’t be “distracted”

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Talking to Amanpour, the DHS Secretary said about the impeachment, “I don’t let it distract me from work,” adding that he wished the “correctness” prevailed. Mayorkas said it will not “slow me down in doing the work that I’m tasked to do by the president of the United States.”

Navalny’s death

The CNN anchor and Mayorkas spoke at the Munich Security Conference when the news of top Putin’s opponent’s death broke. Alexei Navalny was presumed dead after he was jailed in 2021, and Mayorkas called it “tragic news for the world.” He commented, “It speaks to the depravity of Vladimir Putin and our need, as a world, to have resolve against authoritarianism and the invasion of another country that is just yearning for its sovereignty.”

Aid for Ukraine

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The DHS Secretary blasted the House GOP over the Ukraine aid and shared that the administration strives to present “a united front against Vladimir Putin.” Mayorkas said any “uncertainty” in the US only “empowers” Putin.

Hur’s report

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Special counsel Robert Hur’s report called President Biden an “elderly man” with a poor memory, who can’t even recall when his son died. Mayorkas told Amanpour that some of the remarks from the report are “inappropriate and a deviation from Department of Justice norms.”

Defending Biden’s mental capacity

Mayorkas repeated, “I’ve said publicly the most difficult part about a meeting with President Biden is preparing for it because he is probing, exacting, and quite detail-oriented and focused.” He recounted that the job of a prosecutor or special counsel is to”determine the facts and apply the law to those facts.”

Mission-focused

The report wondered if impeachment affected Mayorka’s relationships with world leaders. He responded, “They know me; they know the seriousness of my purpose and the fact that I am focused on my mission. The politics are an aside.”

DHS spokesperson condemned the impeachment

DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg had a message for the House of Representatives following Mayorka’s impeachment, “While Secretary Mayorkas was helping a group of Republican and Democratic Senators develop bipartisan solutions to strengthen border security and get needed resources for enforcement, House Republicans have wasted months with this baseless, unconstitutional impeachment.”

The White House called out Speaker Johnson

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, “Every day that Speaker Johnson causes our national security to deteriorate, America loses. And every day that he puts off a clean vote, congressional Republicans’ standing with the American people plunges.”

Attacks from all sides

Bates added, “Running away for an early vacation only worsens both problems.” DNC also reacted, “Voters are watching as the House GOP chaos conference puts Trump’s political wishes ahead of real solutions to improve border security.”

“Dividing people”

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Douglas Rivlin, communications director at America’s Voice, remarked, “Republicans were showing so many of their cards that illustrated the points that we’ve been making about them. They’re not interested in making policy. They’re interested in dividing people.”

Next stop, Senate

Senators predict Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, will dismiss two articles against Mayorkas or direct them to the committee level. Schumer only commented on impeachment, calling it a “sham” without revealing his next move.

Schumer’s statement

The statement from the Senate Majority Leader continued, “House Republicans failed to produce any evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has committed any crime. House Republicans failed to show he has violated the Constitution. House Republicans failed to

present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense.”

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