Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) blocked a quick confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas as Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security secretary, citing Mayorkas’s immigration policy stance.
Mayorkas is a former Obama administration official considered the architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a renewable deportation deferment, without providing a path to citizenship.
The confirmation hearings for Mayorkas come as Biden has pledged to undue many of the Trump administration’s restrictions on immigration, although it is unclear how quickly the Biden administration can act on those promises.
“Mr. Mayorkas has not adequately explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden’s promise to roll back major enforcement and security measures,” Hawley said in a statement. “Given this, I cannot consent to skip the standard vetting process and fast-track this nomination when so many questions remain unanswered.”
Biden is reportedly set to propose an immigration-reform bill that would grant roughly eleven million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship over eight years. The bill could also grant citizenship to agricultural workers and illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. However, the proposal is not expected to include Republican-backed border security measures.
The looming immigration debates in Congress come as a new migrant caravan continues to travel toward the U.S.-Mexico border. Several thousand people in the caravan clashed with Guatemalan security forces while crossing the border from Honduras on Sunday.
“There’s help on the way, but now is not the time to make the journey,” a Biden official said in comments to NBC.
Send a tip to the news team at NR.
The America we wake up to today, is one of discontent and disillusion, but our spirit still burns strong within all True Patriots!
We will never back down nor cower in the face of adversity!
We will always stand up for the truth and fight the good fight!
Our time to rise is at hand and our Nation is calling upon us to lead them out of this misery!
The greatest President in the history of our nation since Abraham Lincoln, President Donald J. Trump has said, “We will never concede, especially when theft is involved…,” and that, “This is only the beginning of our Incredible Journey to Make America Great Again.”
Let us honor President Trump’s words and of the great Abraham Lincoln…
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”—Abraham Lincoln