Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is visiting Eagle Pass, Texas today. Residents of the small border community hope to have a chance to speak to him.
Local business owners are not only upset about the community being an epicenter for the flood of illegal immigrants pouring across the Texas-Mexico border, but they say a weeks-long bridge closure caused a loss of sales. Main Street, the city’s economic engine, is less than a mile from the border. DHS closed border bridges in order to move personnel to process illegal immigrants. This created a traffic nightmare for businesses that rely on customers from Texas and Mexico, as well as companies who transport goods to and from Mexico.
Local business owner Angel Gonzalez blames a bridge closure for the dip in profits and a loss of sales. Business owners and the mayor hope to speak to Mayorkas.
Gonzalez said he feels bad for the migrants — men, women and children who travel through tough conditions for months. He said he understands they want a better life, which is why he can’t believe he now thinks that the border needs to be better secured to keep migrants from crossing. He said he feels like the government hasn’t done anything to help.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas said he’s been pleading with the federal government to listen.
“The high people, they need to see what’s going on, and they need to hear from us and they need to give this importance,” he said.
The office of Mayorkas said he will meet with local leaders and with Border Patrol officials. He is said to want to hear about efforts made to enforce border security. The mayor said he is grateful that he is coming to Eagle Pass. “The invitation is open to everybody.” Mayorkas told the mayor last Thursday that the international bridge would be re-opened.
Gonzalez opened his business on Sunday with hopes that lower wait times to cross the border at the legal port of entry would bring his Mexican customers back. He wants to tell Mayorkas about the impact that the Biden border crisis has on Eagle Pass. He wants Mayorkas to do something about the crisis. Hope springs eternal.
The timing of the visit is notable. Last week 60 House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, toured the southern border at Eagle Pass. Back in Washington, D.C., formal impeachment hearings will begin against Mayorkas.
The Biden administration is suing Texas for its new law that allows local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants. Abbott said Texas has the right to do so. “The federal government is refusing to enforce the laws passed by Congress, because they are not enforcing the laws passed by Congress; the law that we passed simply enforces the laws passed by Congress,” said Abbott.
House Republicans plan a swift impeachment of Mayorkas as many moderates begin to express support.
The controversial move – to make Mayorkas the first Cabinet secretary impeached in nearly 150 years – amounts to a shift for the House GOP, which had set its sights on potentially impeaching President Joe Biden in early 2024. But with the Biden probe moving methodically and a number of Republicans still skeptical about impeaching the president, senior Republicans now believe targeting Mayorkas will be an easier lift as the border crisis becomes a defining campaign issue.
“From the far right and the Freedom Caucus to those more moderate, we have all been a part of this,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a freshman congressman from a New York district that Biden carried in 2020, told CNN. “We’ve all asked the tough questions, and I think we are at a point, and I believe that the American people agree with us, that Mayorkas needs to be impeached and we need to find quality leadership to lead Homeland Security.”
I agree that Mayorkas should go but with a Democrat president and a Democrat majority in the Senate, Mayorkas will not lose his job if he is impeached. He is doing the bidding of Joe Biden and Biden’s desire for open borders. The Biden border crisis is intentional.