WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined his colleagues Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in sending a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) demanding that the Senate take up the impeachment trial of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas immediately.
The letter was also signed by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), and J.D. Vance (R-OH).
Read the full letter here or below.
Dear Leader McConnell,
Our Republican colleagues in the House have recently passed two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, as well as the breach of public trust. Those articles will soon be transmitted to the Senate. It is imperative that the Senate Republican conference prepare to fully engage our Constitutional duty and hold a trial.
According to multiple briefings by your staff, Majority Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats intend to dispense with the articles of impeachment by simply tabling both individually. This is an action rarely contemplated and never taken by the U.S. Senate in the history of our Republic.
It remains to be seen if the Senate rules will even allow us to brush aside our duty in this manner, but one thing is sure, if a similar strategy was contemplated by Senate Republicans when we were in the majority with a Republican occupying the White House, the opposition would be fierce and the volume from Democrats would be deafening.
We call on you to join us in our efforts to jettison this approach by Democrats to shirk their Constitutional duty, ensure that the Senate conducts a proper trial, and that every Senator, Republican and Democrat, adjudicates this matter when the Senate returns.
BACKGROUND:
Coach Tuberville believes that President Biden has willfully created a national security and humanitarian crisis by refusing to secure our nation’s borders. During his three years in the United States Senate, Senator Tuberville has made multiple visits to the southern border and worked on many legislative initiatives to secure the border, including giving state and local law enforcement the authorities needed to keep our communities safe when the federal government refuses to step in and reforming immigration law to discourage illegal immigration.
Senator Tuberville supports common-sense policies that strengthen our border and national security, like finishing the wall along our southern border and reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico policy. Senator Tuberville recently spoke on the Senate floor to express his position that no more funding should be sent to Ukraine unless the Biden Administration secures the border.
Senator Tuberville introduced the Border Safety and Security Act in March 2023, which would force a shutdown of our nation’s borders until the federal government has control over who is attempting to illegally enter the U.S. In December, Coach reintroduced the Border Safety and Security Act as an amendment to the SUPPORT Act. The legislation puts more responsibility on the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and gives increased authority to state attorneys general to hold DHS accountable if the department fails in its duty to restrict entry and detain illegal immigrants.
In December 2023, Coach Tuberville called on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to overhaul its harmful and deficient policies regarding the treatment of unaccompanied alien children in the United States.
In November 2023, Coach cosponsored the Southern Border Transparency Act. The legislation would force the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to increase its reporting of data about illegal immigrants entering the country, in turn providing greater transparency to the American people.
In September 2023, Senator Tuberville helped introduce the Secure the Border Act of 2023, the Senate companion passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year, commonly known as H.R. 2.
In August 2023, Coach called on the Department of Defense to halt the sale of border wall construction materials after reports that the Department was moving quickly to dispose of the parts before the provisions of Wicker’s FINISH It Act could be implemented.
In July 2023, Coach introduced a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to strike down President Biden’s Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule, which funnels illegal immigrants into unlawful parole programs that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established without Congress’ consent. This funneling effect has allowed, and encouraged, more people with weak or non-existent asylum claims to enter the U.S.
In May 2023, following the expiration of Title 42, Coach reintroduced The Empowering Law Enforcement Act, which would grant state and local law enforcement inherent immigration enforcement authority to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, or transfer an illegal immigrant who has entered the U.S. Additionally, this legislation would provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary flexibility on how long a criminal alien may be detained, extending the 180-day period to ensure violent criminals are not released back into communities.
In March 2023, Senator Tuberville cosponsored the Stopping Border Surges Act to address loopholes in our immigration system that encourage vulnerable immigrant populations to take dangerous, illegal paths of entry into the United States. The legislation includes reforms that would reduce unsustainable surges of illegal immigrants, strengthen our asylum process, eliminate the incentive to send children to the border; and dampen the exploitative power of coyotes and cartels.
In 2021, Senator Tuberville introduced his first piece of legislation as U.S. Senator, which required DHS to issue notices to appear to every single person paroled or released into the U.S., after media reported on the border becoming so overrun that Customs and Border Protection officers were forced to quickly release illegal immigrants into U.S. communities with no follow up for a date in immigration court.
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
###
