Governor Doug Ducey called on President Biden to fire Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“I found out that Secretary Mayorkas was visiting Tuesday. It’s time for Secretary Mayorkas to resign,” Ducey said.
Ducey took his shot at Mayorkas while the Secretary toured the Border near Yuma Wednesday. Confirmed nearly a year ago, this was his first visit to the Arizona border as Secretary of Homeland Security.
“I wasn’t given the opportunity to speak to him. He doesn’t want to speak to governors. He doesn’t respond to myself, to Governor Abbott. He doesn’t respond to the letters Republican governors have written him,” Ducey said.
The Department of Homeland Security tweeted out pictures of Secretary Mayorkas’ visit, up early for the 6 a.m. briefing at the Yuma Sector. Then Mayorkas rode along the Algodones River and later in the Imperial Sand Dunes to highlight the Border Patrol’s commitment to humanitarian aid and saving lives. “We have ended the cruel policies of the past administration. We are building a humane, safe and orderly immigration system,” Secretary Mayorkas told KYMA-TV in Yuma.
According to the governor and published reports, Mayorkas’ visit with Border Patrol agents didn’t go so well. Angered by a lack of resources, overcrowding of immigrants, and the feeling they are being demonized by President Biden, the vice president, and the secretary himself, Border Patrol agents reportedly let their feelings be known.
"I know the Border Patrol was honest and candid with him, they turned their backs on him," Ducey said.
2021 was a difficult year along the southwest border. According to Customs and Border Patrol statistics, there were nearly 2 million encounters with illegal immigrants across the entire southwest. Nearly 400,000 of those encounters happened in Arizona.
The secretary reportedly admitted to Border Patrol agents what they already know, the immigration crisis is the worst it’s been in 20 years. “He will not administer the law,” the governor said, “He can’t do his job and if President Biden isn’t firing him, Congress should impeach him.”
This is the second time in six weeks Secretary Mayorkas ghosted Governor Ducey. In December, he came unannounced to Phoenix to meet with local DHS officials, and now his visit to the border.