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Floor Speech
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Mr. BUDD. Madam President, in order to be a strong Nation, we have to have strong borders. Right now, we don't have that. We haven't had that for 3 years. I talk with sheriffs from all over all of North Carolina-- 100 counties--and many of them tell me the same things over and over: Every single county is now a border county because of Joe Biden's policies. And those policies have been implemented by his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. From the very beginning of his tenure at DHS, Secretary Mayorkas has intentionally undermined security at the southern border again and again and again.
I have a list right here. Now, I know I have limited time, but let's try and run through some of the worst examples. On February 1, 2021, DHS implemented a policy requiring ``alternatives to removal including, but not limited to, staying or reopening cases, alternative forms of detention, custodial detention, whether to grant temporary deferred action, or other appropriate action.'' This telegraphed the Department's complete unwillingness to enforce the law and to detain illegal aliens.
On March 20, 2021, the Mayorkas DHS began issuing illegal border crossers a Notice to Report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as opposed to the standard notice to appear. The notice to report policy allows illegal aliens to simply be released into the United States, and it relies on them to self-report to ICE at a later date. Now, this, ladies and gentlemen, marked the return of catch-and- release.
On July of 2021, the Mayorkas DHS released at least 50,000 aliens without giving them a notice to appear at all. They were advised to self-report to ICE on their own. To the shock of no one, 87 percent of them didn't even report.
On August 17, 2021, the Mayorkas DHS announced an expansion of alternatives to detention. It announced the expansion of taxpayer- funded services to illegal aliens in removal proceedings. This further supercharged the policy of catch-and-release.
On August 31, 2021, the Biden administration disclosed that they released over 100,000 aliens into the United States without giving them a notice to appear.
Again, they were asked to self-report to ICE on their own. Nearly half of them didn't check in with ICE within the 60-day deadline. On September 30, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued a memo stating that ``the fact an individual is a removable [alien] should [not be the sole] basis of an enforcement action.''
This is willful misuse of prosecutorial discretion, and it effectively gave deportable aliens a path to stay in the United States.
On October 8, 2021, the Mayorkas DHS canceled another large group of border wall contracts related to the Laredo and Rio Grande Valley border sectors.
On October 27, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued another memo prohibiting enforcement of immigration laws in the following areas--now listen to these: schools, healthcare facilities, recreational areas, social service facilities, ceremonial locations, as well as at demonstrations and at political rallies.
On October 29, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas formally terminated the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, inviting illegal aliens to America's doorstep.
I could go on, but the bottom line is that this is nothing short of a dereliction of duty on the part of Secretary Mayorkas. He must be held accountable, and that is why he was the second Cabinet Secretary in American history ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives.
The U.S. Senate has a constitutional duty to take these charges seriously and to conduct a full trial on the merits. To do anything less would be an insult to the victims of these open-border policies.
We can't wait. Too many people are suffering. Too many people are dying. We must say enough.
This administration must face accountability for causing the worst border crisis in American history. Now is the time to act.
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