KEY VOTE: “NO” on the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas

This week, the Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). President Biden announced on November 23, 2020, that he would nominate Mayorkas to the post. He previously served as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and as Deputy Secretary of DHS under the Obama Administration.

As Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Mayorkas would be tasked with managing security and counter-terrorism measures at our borders, immigration measures, emergency management responses, cybersecurity operations, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Secret Service—no small task.

However, we know that his focus will not be on efficient and effective management of our homeland security. Instead, he will continue where he left off as Deputy Secretary of DHS by implementing radical left-wing policy changes and helping to dole out political favors to the rich and well-connected.

Mayorkas will immediately get to work to make President Biden’s dreams of amnesty and open borders a reality. In practical terms, this means Mayorkas would help to overturn Migrant Protection Protocols, which would allow illegal aliens to enter the U.S. and be released on their own recognizance before their deportation trial. It means he would stop border wall construction and force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stop deportations of known or suspected criminals. Most importantly, the Administration and would-be Secretary Mayorkas plan to push for massive amnesty by expanding the DACA program, which he designed, and offering green cards to nearly every illegal alien in the United States -- a call for the largest amnesty in the history of the United States.

As the Heritage Foundation has pointed out on numerous occasions,

Amnesty undermines the rule of law and encourages more unlawful migration. Grants of amnesty, regardless of the form of the reward they give to aliens who knowingly enter or remain in the U.S., discourage respect for the law, treat law-breaking aliens better than law-following aliens, and encourage future unlawful immigration into the United States.

If open borders and amnesty for nearly every illegal alien were not enough, Mayorkas was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General for unfairly doling out EB-5 investor visas to wealthy and politically connected foreign nationals in 2015. The inspector general concluded that Mayorkas exerted improper influence on the process and inserted himself into the decision making process in unprecedented ways.

By nominating Alejandro Mayorkas to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, President Biden is giving into the radical left’s demands for open borders, amnesty, and corrupt favors for the wealthy and politically connected. Senators should reject Alejandro Mayorkas for this post.