GOP Rep. Higgins says he would 'arrest' Mayorkas over 'wide open' border violations

By 
 March 1, 2023

A House Republican who previously served as a law enforcement officer, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), announced on Tuesday that, if granted the opportunity, he would arrest Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, the Daily Wire reported.

The Louisiana congressman asserted that Mayorkas has violated numerous criminal statutes at the federal and state level by way of his lax enforcement of border security and immigration laws that have left the nation's borders "wide open" and resulted in the deaths of many Americans.

"If I could arrest you ... I would"

The remarks from Rep. Higgins came during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Tuesday that was premised on how "every state is a border state" thanks to "Secretary Mayorkas' border crisis" and the lax enforcement policies of President Joe Biden's administration.

During his time to speak, Higgins furiously denounced how the border was "wide open and out of control, and Americans are dying because of it."

"I know Secretary Mayorkas is watching this, or having his team of attorneys watch this," he said. "Good because over the course of the next year, this committee is going to lay out our case against you, sir." The former law enforcement officer then said, "If I could arrest you for violations of Louisiana revised statutes, I would."

Laws potentially violated

According to the Washington Examiner, Rep. Higgins named at least two Louisiana laws that he would arrest Sec. Mayorkas for violating, including one for "negligent homicide" and another for being a "principal" of any crime, and said he would charge him as a principal to "thousands of murders" involving the deadly drug fentanyl.

The congressman, who is still a reserve law enforcement officer in his home state, also cited two federal laws, including 18 U.S.C. 1001, for having "knowingly and willfully lied to this body -- again, and again, and again -- about our border." He also cited 18 U.S.C. 242 and how Mayorkas, "under color of law," had "deprived Americans of their very life."

A few moments later, after highlighting the example of a young woman named Sami who died of a fentanyl overdose, Higgins insinuated that Mayorkas should be imprisoned as he said, "I'm going to see to it that you have plenty of time in the course of your remaining life to remember the names to 200,000 Americans who are dead because of fentanyl coming across a border that you have blown wide open."

Both the Daily Wire and the Examiner noted that a DHS spokesperson put out a statement in response to Rep. Higgins' diatribe that defended Sec. Mayorkas, insisted the border was well-resourced and secure, and accused Republicans of seeking to "score political points" instead of work on legislative solutions.

Focused intently on accountability for lax border security

The near-palpable anger from Rep. Higgins toward Sec. Mayorkas over the current state of the border shouldn't be all that surprising, as the congressman has previously called for the secretary to resign and has co-sponsored and supported articles of impeachment to remove Mayorkas from office.

Higgins is also the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Border Security, per a Jan. 30 press release, and is quite serious about the need to secure and defend all of the nation's borders and points of entry.

"America faces a serious threat. This administration has lost operational control of our southern border, the cartels quickly outmaneuvered Mayorkas, millions of illegals have crossed into our country, fentanyl is flooding across our border, violent crime has spread into every community, we lose billions every year because of a weak cybersecurity infrastructure, and for two years the Biden DHS policies have escaped accountability due to a lack of oversight from the previous Democrat-led House," Higgins said in a statement at that time.

"Under the Republican majority, we will work tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of the United States," he added. "Drug traffickers and criminals who enslave vulnerable human beings celebrated when Biden was inaugurated, but the party’s over for the cartels. Biden and Mayorkas will be held accountable for their treasonous open border policies."

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