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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor and called for a full Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Thune noted that Secretary Mayorkas is one of the chief architects of the unprecedented national security crisis at the southern border, and he argued that the Senate – and the American people – should have the chance to fully examine the House of Representatives’ case against him.

Thune’s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):

“Mr. President, tomorrow afternoon the House of Representatives will transmit articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to the U.S. Senate.

“And the Democrat leader?

“Well, by all accounts the Democrat leader will move to sweep the articles – and the border security crisis they represent – under the rug by immediately dismissing the charges.

“It’s not particularly surprising, given Democrats’ history of minimizing the crisis at our southern border.

“But it is disappointing nonetheless.

“The House of Representatives has put forward serious charges, along with evidence to support those charges.

“And it is not too much to ask that the Senate take this matter seriously and explore these charges before dismissing them.

“In a courtroom, a case is not dismissed without the court taking the time to examine the facts.

“And the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, should be no different.

“The Senate should have a full trial and take the time to examine whether Secretary Mayorkas’ actions warrant a conviction.

“Then the Senate should be able to vote guilty or not guilty.

“Mr. President, one thing is absolutely clear, and that is that Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden have presided over the worst border crisis on record.

“We have had three successive years of record-breaking illegal immigration under President Biden.

“Let that just sink in for a minute.

“We have had three successive years of record-breaking illegal immigration under President Biden.

“Fiscal year 2021 saw a record-breaking 1,734,686 migrant encounters at our southern border.

“Then fiscal year 2022 broke that record.

“And then fiscal year 2023 broke that record.

“And if the current trajectory continues, it is likely that fiscal year 2024 will break the record yet again.

“Mr. President, while there are always various factors that affect the flow of migration, there’s a reason that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have presided over three successive years of record-breaking illegal immigration.

“And that reason is the weak border security policies of the Biden administration.

“From the day he took office, when he rescinded the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border, President Biden made it clear that border security was at the bottom of his priority list.

“And over the three years since, he and Secretary Mayorkas have turned our southern border into a magnet for illegal migration – from repealing effective border security policies from the Trump administration to abusing our asylum and parole systems, which are now providing temporary amnesty to hundreds of thousands of individuals here illegally.

“Under U.S. immigration law, parole – the temporary release into the country of an individual for an extenuating reason – is meant to be used on a case-by-case basis only for ‘significant public benefit’ like appearing as a witness in a trial or ‘urgent humanitarian reasons’ like a medical emergency.

“But under Secretary Mayorkas, the Biden administration has created a system of mass parole, with groups being approved en masse for release into the country.

“In fiscal year 2023, the Biden administration paroled 22 times as many individuals per month from southwest border ports of entry as the Trump administration did.

“Meanwhile, on the asylum front, President Biden’s decision to implement a mobile app, CBP One, for filing asylum claims has helped result in hundreds of thousands of individuals taking up residence in our country – often for years – many of whom are unlikely ever to be approved for asylum.

“Mr. President, needless to say, the number of individuals flooding across our southern border under President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas is a logistical nightmare.

“The Border Patrol is stretched thin, and U.S. cities at the border and across the country are being overwhelmed by the number of migrants.

“But even more than that, this is a national security crisis.

“Our country cannot be secure while we have two and a half million individuals a year pouring across our southern border.

“And that’s not even counting the hundreds of thousands of known gotaways – individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend – the number of which, the chief of the Border Patrol recently noted, is keeping him up at night.

“Mr. President, even some Democrat senators here in the Senate have acknowledged that the crisis at our southern border has to be addressed.

“And so I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we look seriously at the charges the House has brought against one of the chief architects of the Biden administration’s lax border security regime – an individual so disconnected from the reality of the situation we face that he has repeatedly, publicly asserted that the border is secure, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

“Unfortunately, I suspect the Democrat leader will continue with his plan to sweep these charges under the rug.

“And with the president and Secretary Mayorkas’ demonstrated unwillingness to use the power of their offices to stem the flow of illegal migration, year four of the Biden-Mayorkas border crisis will continue.

“Mr. President, I yield the floor.”