Sen. Ted Cruz said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas won’t last six months in his job after Democrats have decided to blame him for the chaos at the border.
Speaking Monday on his podcast, “Verdict,” Mr. Cruz said Mr. Mayorkas has had a particularly bad couple of weeks in testimony to Congress and an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
Mr. Cruz said what convinced him Mr. Mayorkas is a goner was that Democrats are no longer rising to defend him. The Texas Republican pointed to last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Mr. Cruz pummeled Mr. Mayorkas with questions and the secretary struggled.
“And he looked to Dick Durbin, the chairman of the committee, and he said Mr. Chairman will you help me, and Durbin — I’ve spent 11 years tangling with Durbin, he loves to argue with me, I actually love to argue with him, we have been pounding on each other many times — he just looked and kind of shrugged and didn’t say a word,” Mr. Cruz said.
“If it had been [Attorney General] Merrick Garland who’d done the exact same thing, Durbin would have jumped in and started arguing with me, which is what he always does,” Mr. Cruz said. “The fact that [Durbin] just kind of shrugged and was like, ‘You’re on your own, buddy’ — it said to me, ‘Wow, OK, they’ve made a decision, this is a problem and he’s the fall guy.’ Within six months, I think Mayorkas is gone.”
The Washington Times has reached out to Homeland Security and Mr. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, for comment.
Mr. Mayorkas appeared before three committees last week and made his TV appearance. He said he is working to secure the border, declined to use the word “crisis” to describe the unprecedented chaos, and deflected blame.
He said illegal immigration has been persistent for years and is hitting other countries, too.
Democrats echoed those themes in their questions at the hearings. They also expressed concern over the flood of fentanyl pouring through the U.S.-Mexico border, killing their constituents.
They argued that fentanyl is separate from the illegal immigration chaos, saying most of the drug is being carried through border crossings by U.S. citizens.
Mr. Mayorkas said more than 90% comes through those ports of entry.
Democratic senators also pointed out that the northern border is joining in the chaos, with a surge in illegal crossings — in both directions — in northern New York and Vermont.
Mr. Cruz had one exchange with Mr. Mayorkas where the senator held up a photo of wrist bracelets found at the border.
They are issued by smugglers to migrants to identify and categorize where they are to be taken and how much they owe. Coverage of the bracelets has been persistent over the past two years, and analysts say they are found anywhere illegal immigrants are sneaking across the border, particularly in Texas.
But Mr. Mayorkas said he was unfamiliar with the bracelets.
Mr. Cruz said he’s not sure Mr. Mayorkas was telling the truth, but if he was, it’s a damning critique.
“In the entire hearing, that was the moment that stunned me the most,” Mr. Cruz said.
During the hearing, the Texan peppered Mr. Mayorkas with challenges about how many migrant children have been sold into sex slavery, how many migrants who evaded the Border Patrol are murderers, and how many children were sexually assaulted on the trip to the U.S.
At the end of Mr. Cruz’s time for questioning, Mr. Durbin did offer Mr. Mayorkas a chance to respond to the badgering. The secretary said the senator’s remarks were “revolting.”
“I’m not going to address it,” he said.
“Your refusal to do your job is revolting,” Mr. Cruz responded.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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