Oklahoma Attorney General Testifies At Mayorkas Impeachment Hearing

The “architect of the devastation” at the southern border. That’s how Republicans described Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Wednesday in the first of a series of hearings they hope will result in his impeachment.

The hearing, titled “Havoc in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas’ Failed Leadership has Impacted the States," featured a panel of heartland state Attorneys General — Oklahoma’s Gentner Drummond among them — to provide direct evidence of that impact.

"Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I believe it is time for accountability,” said Attorney General Drummond in his opening statement, “the people of Oklahoma don't deserve to live under constant threat from criminal foreign nationals."

Drummond told the committee the border crisis is costing Oklahoma taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, but the primary impact is increased criminal activity.

"What we see almost in every one of our illegal grow arrests,” Drummond explained in an interview following the hearing, “we’re having elements of human trafficking, principally Mexican and Chinese immigrants who’ve been brought across (the border) for purposes of manning and working in these facilities."

Drummond and the other AGs, from Missouri and Montana, provided examples of horrible crimes committed in their states by people who’d entered the country unlawfully. 

Republicans on the committee are making the case that Mayorkas is the one to blame for the record number of migrant encounters between ports of entry since early 2021.

"Secretary Mayorkas has brazenly refused to enforce the laws passed by Congress and has enacted policies that knowingly make our country less safe,” said Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), the committee’s chairman.

Democrats criticized their GOP colleagues, calling the impeachment effort a purely political stunt.

"You cannot impeach a cabinet secretary because you don't like a president's policies,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the ranking member. “That's not what impeachment's for."

But Oklahoma Congressman Josh Brecheen, who sits on the committee, believes the Founders did see impeachment being used as a remedy for dereliction of duty.

"This is about 8 to 10 different federal statutes that this administration — Mayorkas — has refused to do the will of the people what congressional statute mandates,” Brecheen (R-OK2) said in an interview.

Drummond says the bottom line is this will send Mayorkas a strong message

"He’s probably going to be impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate,” Drummond said, “but that is not a badge of honor, and I think that what will come as a result of this is an awareness, a greater awareness of accountability."

The next hearing will be next Thursday and then the committee plans to mark up articles of impeachment at the end of the month and likely send them to the full House for consideration.