Arizona lawmaker looks to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

PHOENIX - An Arizona lawmaker is leading the charge to impeach the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over issues at the southern border.

Congressman Andy Biggs announced on Feb. 1 that he'll be filing new articles of impeachment on Capitol Hill. This is the second time Biggs has attempted this – it was unsuccessful in 2021 when Democrats controlled the house – this time around, with Republican control, it could be different.

"I think everyone understands pretty clearly that there is a crisis on the southern border. Some of our friends across the aisle are in, are in disagreement with that. Secretary Mayorkas does not think the border is open," he says.

Biggs is considering Mayorkas' inaction at the southern border a dereliction of duty and addressed new articles of impeachment against the DHS Secretary.

"Let's look at policies. What were the policies that were in place before secretary Mayorkas came? Build the fence. Finish building the wall. He stopped that," Biggs says.

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels is going his jurisdiction to Capitol Hill to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on what many in leadership are now calling "a crisis at the border."

"I spoke on behalf of sheriffs in this country, but I also spoke on local law enforcement optics, what we're seeing on the border," Dannels said.

The sheriff says it's been productive and beneficial sharing perspectives with those in our nation's capital, two thousand miles away from the Arizona border.

"Hoping we bring reality to what's going on in a rural county like Cochise. You can't go away and say, 'Oh, I didn't know that. Now we've shared that, and I've been very transparent with them about what we're doing," Dannels said.

Elected officials weren't the only ones lawmakers heard from.

"One of the witnesses today, a dad that lost his 15-year-old son to a fentanyl overdose. (He) talked in great depth about the drugs coming into the southwest border. Fentanyl being the headliner," Dannels said.

So far, 15 members of Congress have gotten behind Biggs' move toward impeachment. Mayorkas seems publicly unfazed by the efforts.

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