Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden‘s nominee for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is headed to the Senate for final confirmation. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday (Jan. 29) called on his fellow senators to reject the confirmation. The nominee is “disregarding the rule of law and is pro-communist”.
On Thursday (Jan. 28), Cruz shared a letter to his congressional colleagues on Twitter, citing a “long list of ethical, legal and policy failures” during Mayorkas’ tenure in public service.
Mayorkas previously served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration and as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Cruz’s office said the “failures” included “abusing his power to provide special government benefits to well-connected Democrats, such as securing an EB-5 visa for a senior official at huawei. And Huawei disguised itself as a technology company to spy for the Chinese Communist Party around the world.”
In his letter, Cruz alleges that “Mr. Mayorkas has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for the rule of law.” He noted that a 2015 “extensive and unflinching” inspector general report investigated his conduct during his previous tenure as director of U.S. immigration.
Cruz said the report “brought to light his misconduct as USCIS director.”
The report investigated how Mayorkas, 61, interfered with the EB-5 visa program process for wealthy investors in a questionable manner, according to The Washington Post. The report ultimately concluded that Mayorkas did not violate the law, but created a “special access” (backdoor) phenomenon.
“Mayorkas overruled normal procedures in order to obtain visas for well-connected Democratic stakeholders under the EB-5 visa program, including helping a company run by the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which sought a visa for a vice president of Huawei Technologies, and helping a company in which the son of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NY) was involved. Reid’s (D-N.Y.) son in a company he was involved with.” Cruz’s letter said.
The letter said, “Mr. Mayorkas’ improper interference was a decisive factor in granting visas to politically favored companies and persons, leading to ‘great discontent not only among career employees but also among senior managers and attorneys responsible for USCIS missions and programs. As the Inspector General bluntly put it, Mr. Mayorkas’ intervention was ‘corrupting and destabilizing.'”
Cruz also emphasized that when Mayorkas was confirmed in 2013, he did not receive any Republican votes in the Senate.
“As we did in 2013, we should firmly reject the confirmation of Mr. Mayorkas.” Cruz said at the end of his letter.
Recent Comments