Gov. Doug Ducey called for Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to resign after comments made to Texas border patrol agents were leaked on Thursday, calling the border crisis “unsustainable,” and saying that “if our borders are the first line of defense, we’re going to lose.”
“A defeatist is not what we need when it comes to fighting for border security,” Ducey said in a Friday statement. “It is time for Secretary Mayorkas to resign and for him to be replaced with someone who will tell the American people the truth publicly, stand up to the radical activists inside the Biden-Harris administration and once and for all end the crisis at the southern border.”
During his visit to the Texas border, Mayorkas said that agents handled more than 212,000 migrant encounters in July, marking a 13% increase from the previous month.
“A couple of days ago I was down in Mexico, and I said ‘look, you know, if, if our borders are the first line of defense, we’re going to lose and this is unsustainable,’” Mayorkas said in the leaked audio obtained by Fox News. “We can’t continue like this, our people in the field cant continue and our system isn’t built for it.”
Ducey said Arizonans understand that strong borders are essential to public safety and national security.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s record of failure on this issue has led to this moment. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, through their words and their actions, have signaled to the world that America’s southern border is wide open and unprotected,” he said.
Illegal immigration has broken a 21-year record, Ducey claimed in the release. He said that law enforcement and humanitarian groups are “at a breaking point,” children are dangerously crossing the border, drugs are entering communities, and cartels are controlling territories south of the border.
“And now, Secretary Mayorkas has confirmed our worst fears,” he said.
The governor said that Mayorkas revealed the “chaos, dysfunction and defeatist attitude” throughout the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“This administration has completely lost control of the border,” Ducey emphasized. “And with his comments, Secretary Mayorkas demonstrated that he fully understands the catastrophe playing out at the border, and yet he lacks the skill, ability and will to address it adequately.”
Attorney General Mark Brnovich has also called for Mayorkas to step down, in addition to Republican officials from other states.
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Tags: News, Doug Ducey, Arizona, Immigration, State
Original Author: Elizabeth Troutman, The Center Square contributor
Original Location: Ducey, others, call for resignation of Homeland Security Secretary after comments leaked
