In a fiery exchange on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lashed out at Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing the Homeland Security Secretary of following “political orders” that “let children be raped.”
The heated back-and-forth came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on border security, during which Cruz peppered Mayorkas with questions on the number of murderers, rapists, terrorists and child molesters that have been “released into America” since President Biden took office.
“Senator, I’m not aware of any murderer we’ve released into the – ” Mayorkas responded before Cruz cut him off.
“So you don’t know?” the Texas Republican interjected, only allowing the secretary the opportunity to answer “yes” or “no” to his barrage of questions – which Mayorkas refused to do.
Near the end of Cruz’s 11-minute grilling, the senator grew even more heated, calling Mayorkas “incompetent” for not recognizing the significance of an image of color-coded wristbands that he put up on an easel.
“You don’t know what they are? Mr. Secretary, you just testified to the American people you’re incompetent at your job,” an enraged Cruz said.
“I’ve been to the southern border. And if you go to the southern border, along the southern border, you see thousands of these wristbands because the illegal immigrants wear them. The drug cartels – every color corresponds to how many thousands of dollars they owe the cartels. You have turned these cartels into multibillion-dollar criminal organizations,” the senator explained.
Cruz finished by calling Mayorkas “disgraceful” and raging that “the children assaulted, the children raped, they are at your feet and if you had integrity, you would resign!”
“And I will tell you the men and women of the Border Patrol, they’ve never had a political leader undermine them. They despise you, Mr. Secretary, because you’re willing to let children be raped to follow political orders,” he added.
Mayorkas refused to counter to Cruz’s criticism.
“What the senator said was revolting. I’m not going to address it,” he responded.
To which Cruz fired back, “Your refusal to do your job is revolting.”
Cruz is among several Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), that have demanded Mayorkas’ resignation over his handling of the crisis on the southern border.
Some House Republicans have also called for the DHS chief to be impeached over the border crisis.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Pat Fallon (R-Texas) have both introduced articles of impeachment against the secretary, accusing him of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”