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State AGs take a crack at Homeland Security head

State AGs take a crack at Homeland Security head


Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill, Nov. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

State AGs take a crack at Homeland Security head

House Republicans on a key committee think DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ought to be impeached. But legislators aren't the only ones holding that opinion.

Attorneys general from Montana, Oklahoma, and Missouri appeared Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee. Montana's Austin Knudsen argued that the border was secure when Donald Trump was in office. "But all of that progress has been destroyed. Secretary Mayorkas is the architect of that destruction," Knudsen stated.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said illegal immigration costs Oklahoma taxpayers more than $750 million each year with a minimal offset return.

"The people of Oklahoma don't deserve to live under constant threat from criminal foreign nationals," Drummond offered. "We don't deserve to have our communities flooded with illegal drugs that were smuggled across an unsecure border – and we don't deserve to have our loved ones ripped away by those same drugs."

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said since Mayorkas won't do his job, states necessarily have taken it upon themselves to do the federal government's job.

"Secretary Mayorkas swore an oath to faithfully execute the laws of our land. In Missouri," said that state's AG, "we remove officials who do not do their jobs because we have seen firsthand the catastrophic toll it takes on entire communities.

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee accused Republicans of election-year politics, but Republicans say this is about holding people accountable.