U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, said during a heated exchange Thursday with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that those in Colorado's 4th Congressional District find his actions along the nation's southern border to be traitorous and deserving of impeachment.
Illegal border crossings could reach 18,000 per day following the nearing revocation of the Title 42 policy, which Buck has opposed. More than 2.4 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border since President Joe Biden's inauguration. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said the illegal immigrant population could reach a total greater than his state's population within Biden's first term.
"Many of my constituents have asked me whether you will be impeached when Republicans gain control next year," Buck said during Thursday's House Judiciary Committee hearing. "They don't believe that you've committed a high crime and they don't believe that you've committed a misdemeanor. My constituents want you impeached because they believe that you've committed treason. They believe you are a traitor and compare you to Benedict Arnold."
The actions of Mayorkas amount to a sabotage of the country stemming from "catastrophic and deliberate mishandling" of the border, Buck said Friday in an interview with The Fort Morgan Times. He has previously described policy as a willful disregard of immigration law.
"When the secretary admitted to favoring amnesty, admitted to dismantling Trump policy and also to a record number of border crossings – all of that combined was chilling," Buck said.
One member of the House Judiciary Committee repeatedly asked Mayorkas to explain what has been done correctly on the border during his term.
"He had this faux indignation with me," Buck said. "He could have shared a plan."
A constituent Buck did not identify asked him recently about impeaching Mayorkas in January with a potential Republican majority in the House and Senate, and Buck asked Mayorkas to answer her concerns with the damage he has done to the country.
Mayorkas responded that Buck's comments were "offensive on so many levels." He told Buck he wouldn't ask for an apology, to which Buck responded: "Don't."
"There's anger people feel for a lot of reasons with the Biden Administration, but those other areas [energy crisis, treatment of military personnel] are not impeachable," Buck said. "I believe this is."
Mayorkas is preventing U.S. Border Patrol from performing their job, said Buck, who has visited the southern border.
"Their job [currently] is to accept and take people into the country," Buck said.
Returning to a pair of policies led by President Donald Trump would make a difference, Buck says. The Biden Administration could complete construction of the border wall and restore Remain in Mexico policy.
"We should also renew agreements with the northern triangle countries to stop illegal immigration that assembles in Guatemala," Buck said.
Mayorkas was asked by another member of the House Judiciary Committee to explain the presence in America of almost four dozen terrorists on the no-fly list and detail their whereabouts, to which he offered no answer.
"I think they have very intentionally operated in a way that encourages this," Buck said. "It is not a mistake."
In fiscal year 2021, Customs and Border Protection seized more than 11,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl, which is enough to kill every American seven times over, a press release from Buck's office reads.
He's also concerned with Mayorkas' involvement with a 'Ministry of Truth', in which he says the Department of Homeland Security would regulate speech.
"There are a number of bad policies from the Biden White House," Buck said. "But Americans believe what you have done is intentional."
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