Tester Statement on Secretary Mayorkas Impeachment

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today issued the following statement on the impeachment proceedings regarding Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas:

“What’s happening at our southern border is completely unacceptable, and the Biden Administration must do more to keep Montana and our country safe. Montanans want real solutions that secure the border, not partisan games from D.C. politicians. I agree with my Republican colleagues who have said this exercise is a distraction that fails to make our country safer. It’s time for President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas to use their remaining executive authorities to help secure our border, and for Congress to pass bipartisan border security legislation to give law enforcement the resources and policy changes they have said they need to get the job done.”

The impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas received bipartisan opposition in the House, and several Republican Senators have criticized the charges:

• Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) called the impeachment efforts the “dumbest exercise and use of time.”
• Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-A.K.) said: “I just have not seen anything that the House has presented to us that would rise to an impeachable offense of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
• Senator Mitt Romney (R-U.T.) said that Secretary Mayorkas’ policy failures are “not a high crime or misdemeanor.”
• Senator Jerry Moran (R-K.S.) said that impeachment “is never the answer just to disagreements on policy.”
• Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) criticized the effort, saying: “It’s crap. Pure crap. No trial at all, it’s ridiculous,” and that, “It is basically something that I can’t wait to vote against and get it out as soon as it comes here.”

Tester has led the charge to secure the southern border and stop the deadly flow of fentanyl that is wreaking havoc on Montana.

He has repeatedly expressed to Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden that the Administration must do more and “use all of the remaining tools at your disposal” to secure our borders. During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Tester directly confronted Secretary Mayorkas, telling him to “step up” and that “it’s apparent the status quo has not worked and is not working currently.”

Tester voted to secure the southern border in February – but politicians in Congress blocked the bipartisan border security legislation. Read a memo outlining the facts about the bipartisan border security proposal HERE, which received the endorsement of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) and the Director of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Through his role as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Tester secured significant wins for border security and law enforcement in the FY2024 government funding appropriations package. Border security wins backed by Tester in the package include:

• Funding for up to 22,000 U.S. Border Patrol Agents 
• Funding for 150 new Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry to help secure our southern border;
• Funding for 41,500 new detention beds for an increase of 7,500 or 24% over FY23; and
• Increased funding for border technology, including funding to purchase new NII border scanners and install existing technology, following Tester efforts to ensure Congress fully funded fentanyl scanning technology at our borders.