As the U.S. Senate prepares to hold an impeachment hearing against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Derek Maltz says Mr. Mayorkas should be held accountable for the state of U.S. border security, but he doubts Congress will take the kind of steps he’s seeking.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives impeached Mr. Mayorkas in February, alleging he has engaged in a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with” U.S. immigration law and has breached the public trust by lying about the state of U.S. border security and hindering congressional investigations on the topic.
“All you have to do is watch the videos of what’s going on at the border. You don’t have to be a border or immigration expert to understand that this Secretary lied to not only Congress but to the American public. And to me, that’s the fundamental issue here,” Mr. Maltz told NTD News.
Mr. Maltz, who previously served as the director of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, has expressed particular concern about the flow of illicit narcotics through the U.S. southern border under Mr. Mayorkas’s watch. The retired DEA agent testified before the House last year about a “devastating and escalating fentanyl poisoning crisis,” which he says is possible due to lax border security.
Beyond the risks to Americans posed by cross-border fentanyl trafficking, the former DEA agent described a broader set of national security concerns from millions of illegal border crossers who are known to have evaded U.S. border security personnel.
“We have like 2 million known gotaways in this country. We don’t even know who these people are. . .We have ghost criminals all over the country. We have violent gangsters coming in from Venezuela and El Salvador, other parts of the world, we have radical extremists coming in, we have record amounts of folks being stopped on the terror watch list. And it’s just really mind-boggling that this government would allow the movement of so many unknowns into this country,” Mr. Maltz said.
Lax US Borders Enable CCP’s ‘Unrestricted Warfare’: Maltz
Adding to his concern about lax U.S. border security, Mr. Maltz said he’s aware of around 22,000 Chinese nationals who’ve been apprehended attempting to illegally enter the country so far in fiscal year 2024.
“We’re on course for groundbreaking records of Chinese nationals,” he said. “Now, here’s what’s sad. They’re coming into America. They’re setting up counterintelligence operations. They’re setting up massive marijuana grow operations. They’re working with the cartels, picking up millions of dollars worth of cash. They’re facilitating the cartels’ ability to move the deadly fentanyl into America.”
The former DEA agent described the actions of these Chinese nationals as a potential element of a broader campaign of “unrestricted warfare” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“They’re gonna use whatever tool in a toolbox to maximize the ability to destabilize America,” he said, whether it’s sickening Americans with potent narcotics, or establishing intelligence missions within the country.
“So the Chinese Communist Party are behind this. You can’t just leave China without, you know, getting the approval from the CCP, I’m being told,” he continued. “And I’m no expert on the CCP, but the movement is clear. They’re sending their operatives here, they’re looking to destabilize and take down America. And that’s really on course, as far as I’m concerned.”
No Confidence in Impeachment
While Congressional Republicans have raised the alarm about growing numbers of people crossing the U.S. southern border and indicators of rising drug traffic into the country, they’ve clashed with their Democratic counterparts about the appropriate next steps. While Republicans have directed much of their blame for the current border security situation at President Joe Biden’s administration and Mr. Mayorkas in particular, Democrats have insisted Mr. Mayorkas has done a fair job with the authority he’s been given and argued Republicans have thwarted attempts to hire more border security personnel and reform the border security and immigration process.
On Tuesday, April 9, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) indicated Senate Democrats plan to deal with the House impeachment articles against Mayorkas “as expeditiously as possible.” Some Republicans have raised concerns the Democrats plan to quickly schedule a vote on a motion to dismiss the impeachment charges, effectively ending the impeachment proceedings without holding a Senate trial.
While he favors an effort to hold Mr. Mayorkas responsible for the state of U.S. border security, Mr. Maltz said he has no confidence in a Senate trial proceeding.
“Secretary Mayorkas, he should be held accountable. But I don’t really have confidence that that will happen because we have a, you know, we have like two justice systems right now. And it’s just really sad,” the former DEA agent said.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced a delay in the House timeline for sending over the impeachment case. Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) said they’re now expecting the impeachment case to come over next week, on April 15.
It would take a two-thirds vote in the Senate to actually remove Mr. Mayorkas from office on the impeachment allegations. With the current lines of control in the Senate, all Republicans and several Democrats would need to vote to convict Mr. Mayorkas for the removal effort to succeed.
Democrats and independents who caucus with the party currently hold 51 Senate seats, while Republicans hold 49. A Senate impeachment trial could give Republican proponents a chance to sway some Democrats to their side, but none seem to be open to the case so far.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—who is ranked by ProPublica as the Democrat senator who has most often voted against the rest of his party in this session of Congress—does not appear amenable to the impeachment case thus far. The West Virginia Democrat has called the impeachment case against Mr. Mayorkas “crazy and stupid.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has also positioned himself against the impeachment case brought by his fellow Republicans.
“We have pointed out that President Biden is for open borders, as are the Democrats, and Mayorkas is simply following that policy,” Mr. Romney told reports on Tuesday. “It’s the wrong policy; it has a hugely damaging effect on the country—but it’s not a high crime or misdemeanor.”
