Zinke Votes to Impeach Homeland Secretary Mayorkas, Delivers Speech on House Floor

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Yesterday, Congressman and Co-Chair of the Northern Border Security Caucus Ryan Zinke voted in favor of impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law in enforcing border policy and a breach of public trust. The measure failed by a tie vote.

Prior to voting, Zinke delivered a speech on the House Floor holding Mayorkas accountable for the increase recent arrests, fentanyl busts, and human trafficking incidents that have occurred in the three Montana counties bordering Canada and the rest of the country.

Watch the floor speech here or read the remarks below.

Prepared remarks:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House resolution 863 - the Impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas. 

You know, Montana is about the same size as from here to Chicago plus two miles, it’s a long, long border. The few border people we have are generally deployed down south.

My friend and gentleman from New York said, what evidence do we offer? What evidence of negligence, what evidence of wrongdoing?

I'd say it's easy to find.

It's found in every street, every city, every county, every state across this nation. The evidence is found in every fentanyl pill, and death. The evidence is found in every woman that's raped along our border. The evidence is found in every child trafficking case. It is in every city including Billings, Missoula, Chicago, and Washington D.C.. It's found in every instance of children being sex trafficked. And I could go on.  

The evidence of negligence is the willful and blind turning to this horror that we have in our Southern border. Our Northern border wall, which is not discussed a lot, is wide open.

This country doesn't have a border and in Montana this administration can't even prevent a balloon. 

The evidence is clear, compelling, and not in dispute. The lack of action and blind willingness to do nothing is deserving of no less than impeachment. 

Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

Background:

• The Biden/Mayorkas Administration’s open border policies enforced by the President’s executive orders has created the largest border crisis in the history of the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has recorded 8.7 million illegal immigrants crossing the border since Biden and Mayorkas took office; In December alone, more than three times the population of Montana illegally crossed the border into the United States and CBP seized enough fentanyl for roughly 260 million lethal doses.

• Last February, in one of his first acts back in Congress, Zinke signed on to legislationthat called for the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas.

• Last June, Zinke voted for H.R. 2– the most comprehensive border security bill in decades.

• U.S. agents recorded nearly 250,000illegal apprehensions along the southern border in December 2023.

• Customs and Border Protection statistics show nearly 500 people on the terrorist watch list were apprehended at the northern border from October 2022 to September.

• CBP recorded roughly 189,000 apprehensions at the Northern border

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