GOP reps Tenney, Roy lead push to reduce Mayorkas’ salary to $1 over border crisis
FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers within the House are proposing an modification that will reduce Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ salary to simply $1, as Republicans proceed to improve stress on the DHS chief for the continuing migrant crisis on the southern border.
Reps. Claudia Tenney, R-NY, and Chip Roy, R-Texas, are main the push to embody an modification to the Homeland Security appropriations invoice that will reduce Mayorkas’ salary to $1.
The modification would use the so-called Holman rule, which permits lawmakers to reduce the salaries of federal officers. Republicans have zeroed in on Mayorkas over the continuing crisis on the southern border, the place numbers have once more elevated in latest months. Conservatives say the crisis has been created and fueled by the insurance policies of the administration.
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“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay Secretary Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas a salary that exceeds $1,” the modification states.
“Secretary Mayorkas should not be paid hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to continually fail to protect American taxpayers from threats crossing our borders,” Tenney mentioned in a press release to Fox News Digital. “Thanks to Secretary Mayorkas’ work, or lack thereof, there have been at least 5.8 million illegal crossings of our southern border since Biden took office, turning all our communities into border communities.”
‘If the President is refusing to fire him for his dereliction of duty, his salary must reflect his failures,” she said.
“It’s time to finish this border crisis as soon as and for all. The American individuals haven’t any obligation to preserve paying a federal official who refuses to do his job and uphold his oath, and that is why we must always zero out Mayorkas’ salary,” Roy said in a statement. “I’m glad to work with Rep. Tenney on this combat to regain operational management of the border.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said Congress needs to pass immigration reform and approve more funding for the agency’s border operations. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Co-sponsors on the amendment include Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Russell Fry, R-S.C., Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., Bill Posey, R-Fla., Carol Miller, R-W.Va., Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.
The move marks the latest effort by Republicans in relation to the administration’s handling of the migrant crisis, which has seen record high numbers at the border, and has become an increasingly difficult political issue for the administration as migrants have also been overwhelming “sanctuary” cities like New York City and Chicago.
Republicans have blamed the administration’s policies, including its reversal of Trump-era policies including border wall construction and the Remain-in-Mexico policy. They have also blasted the expansion of releases of migrants via humanitarian parole and what they have called “catch-and-release.”
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Some Republicans have known as for Mayorkas’ impeachment, and the House Homeland Security Committee issued a report accusing him of an “intentional” dereliction of duty and of implementing a “radical open-borders agenda.”
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Roy has been one of the fiercest critics of Mayorkas, and last month called for lawmakers to stop funding DHS altogether until steps are taken to secure the border. Meanwhile, conservatives in the chamber are calling for a sweeping border and asylum reform bill to be included in any continuing resolution that would keep the government open past Sept. 30.
The Biden administration has defended Mayorkas and has pushed back against GOP criticism, saying the agency needs more funding from Congress and for it to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that it introduced on day one to fix what it says is a “damaged” system that has not been updated in decades. That legislation has been rejected by Republicans in part due to the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. The White House recently requested an additional $4 billion for border and immigration as part of its supplemental funding request.
A DHS spokesperson emphasized those calls for more congressional action on Wednesday in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“While the House Majority has wasted months attempting to rating factors with baseless assaults, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and dealing to preserve Americans secure,” the spokesperson said. “Instead of constant their reckless charades and assaults on regulation enforcement, Congress ought to work with us to preserve our nation secure, construct on the progress DHS is making, and ship desperately wanted reforms for our damaged immigration system that solely laws can repair.”