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Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, my colleagues and I stand here today to demand accountability on behalf of the American people for the worst border crisis we have ever seen.

For the past 3 years, Americans have witnessed the negligence and gross mismanagement at our southern border unfold, each day worse than the day before. The consequences of this crisis have been fatal, killing 300 Americans a day, 300,000 Americans over the last 3 years due to drugs trafficked into our homeland. It has been costly, putting an undue burden on American taxpayers to the tune of $500 billion per year. It is becoming more dangerous by the day as terrorists, Chinese nationalists, and over 1.7 million ``got-aways'' exploit our border at a rate higher than we have ever seen before.

The Biden administration has for all practical purposes erased our southern border and embraced a structure of complete lawlessness, letting our national security hang in the balance. Enough is enough. Americans deserve better.

I think everyone understands that when you are running a business, you look at the numbers, you look at the goals, and when those aren't being met, you find the problem and you address it, which brings me to why my colleagues and I are here today.

I rise today in support of a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and, more importantly, the confidence of the American people to carry out the duties of his office faithfully.

Secretary Mayorkas is derelict in his duty and has failed to uphold his oath. Over the past 3 years, Secretary Mayorkas has refused to enforce immigration law as passed by Congress, fueling the invasion at our border. He ended effective border policies like catch and release, ``Remain in Mexico,'' title 42, and exploited parole and asylum loopholes that have allowed over 6 million migrants to live in the interior of our country without being vetted and with a court date nearly a decade away.

With over 10 million illegal migrants entering our country under this administration's watch, not to mention the 1.7 million known ``got- aways,'' the crisis at our border is dire. Yet Mayorkas continues to lie to the American people and even under oath to Congress when he said he has operational control of our borders.

Defined in the Secure Fence Act of 2006, ``operational control'' clearly means the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband. That is the Secure Fence Act of 2006. To claim that he has any control, better yet operational control as required by law, is not only disingenuous and insulting to the American people, who are concerned for their safety and security, it is also illegal. That is why Congress must step in and do the job that Joe Biden will not.

Secretary Mayorkas has no control of the border. How can you when, again, you have fentanyl poisoning killing 300,000 Americans on his watch? We have had 33 months of more than 150,000 illegal border crossings and 19 months with more than 200,000 illegal border crossings, including a new 1-month record of over 300,000 this past December--a month that historically sees a decreased number of crossers. According to his own DHS, they have admitted they have no way to determine if these individuals have a criminal history.

Sadly, the story that isn't being told enough is that right now, Secretary Mayorkas has misplaced approximately 100,000 migrant children here in our country.

I am honored, I am proud that so many of my colleagues could join me here today as we outline the many reasons why there is no time to waste when it comes to firing Secretary Mayorkas.

Next, I would like to recognize the Senator from the great State of Missouri.

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I would like to thank my colleagues for joining me tonight to help me prosecute this case against Secretary Mayorkas.

As we introduce this historic measure, I want to close with this: You have nothing--you have nothing--if you don't have your word. As a physician, I took an oath to, above all else, do no harm. In the military, I took an oath to support and defend our Constitution. In the Senate, I reaffirmed my military oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Each one of these oaths I honored with integrity and exercised to the best of my ability.

On February 2, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas swore an oath to ``well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter and to protect our country from enemies, domestic and foreign.''

With that oath, he promised the American people that he would defend our homeland and uphold our Constitution.

Tonight, my colleagues and I have outlined numerous ways Secretary Mayorkas is derelict in his duty as Secretary and failed to uphold this oath. We are here today because we take our oath seriously and will not stand by idly while Secretary Mayorkas threatens our national security and our democracy.

For the sake of America's safety and security, we need to impeach Secretary Mayorkas now and send a clear message to Joe Biden that in 300 days, we will fire him, too.

Res. 169; I further ask that the resolution be agreed to; that the Marshall amendment to the preamble, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I certainly greatly appreciate the Senator from Delaware's remarks, and I agree with him on so many things he talked about. I agree that we are a land of opportunity and that we should help those in need. You know, personally, I have led humanitarian medical mission trips around the world. The United States spends $80 billion a year through the USAID programs, Food for Peace, and polio vaccinations. We promote economic trade.

I am afraid my friends across the aisle see this as an immigration issue. If we open up the gates, 158 million people worldwide would like to come into the country right now, to come into our country--158 million people. That is according to a 2018 Gallup poll. There are 158 million people from around the world who would flood our gates right now if given the opportunity.

I have always supported legal immigration--legal immigration--but I see this today totally as a national security issue. That is what I am afraid of. That is what I am concerned about when the FBI Director says all the lights are blinking. When we see 100,000 people--Americans, young Americans mostly--dying from fentanyl poisoning every year; when we have 1.7 million ``got-aways,'' where we don't know who they are or where they are--hundreds of known terrorists, aliens of interest, tens of thousands of aliens of interest--this is a national security issue to us.

Secretary Mayorkas took an oath. He took an oath to enforce the laws of the land, to make sure that we had a secure border, and we don't have that right now. That is why we need to fire Secretary Mayorkas today, and we need to let the White House know that we are going to have a new person in there next year as well.

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