EL PASO, Texas – Residents of Texas’ most populous border town were split on whether the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should keep his job.
‘Mr. Mayorkas should be fired,’ Steven, an El Paso resident, told Fox News. ‘He’s not handling the situation at hand. It’s getting worse. And the policy they have in place does not work.’
Carol, who recently moved from Washington, D.C., back to her hometown of El Paso, said: ‘He is doing his best to address the border situation but there is much more that needs to be done.’
WATCH EL PASO RESIDENTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT DHS SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS:
Republican lawmakers called for Mayorkas’ impeachment early this month on the same day the DHS chief visited El Paso for a briefing after the city began averaging thousands of daily migrant encounters.
Mayorkas ‘definitely ought to be impeached,’ Kay, an El Paso resident who lives downtown said. ‘At least have a special committee put against him.’
But Joel, another resident, said: ‘So far, I believe he’s doing a good job.’
Mayorkas has said DHS has a plan to handle an expected migrant surge after the expiration of Title 42 — a protocol used to quickly expel migrants — though he hasn’t shared the details. The order remains in legal limbo as the Supreme Court weighs whether it should end.
The Biden administration on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let Title 42 expire, but requested a brief delay until at least Dec. 27. DHS has projected between 9,000 and 15,000 migrant encounters a day once the order is lifted.
‘We’re in the thick of it,’ said Christopher, adding that Mayorkas should be reevaluated at the end of Biden’s first term.
Another resident, Gustavo, told Fox News Mayorkas should keep his job if he ‘fixes his mistakes.’ Otherwise, ‘maybe we need another man.’
Meanwhile, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency Saturday as a result of an ongoing migrant surge, saying he felt the situation was ‘not safe.’ And across the entire border, fiscal year 2022 ended with nearly 2.4 million migrant encounters — a new record, according to data released in September.
Mayorkas is ‘doing what he’s instructed to do by the administration,’ Carl, an El Paso resident, said. ‘I would want an effective leader that would implement good policies to take care of this, what I would call a humanitarian crisis.’
Another El Paso resident, Guillermo, told Fox News that DHS seems ‘more worried about the politics of everything that’s going on versus like the people.’
To watch El Paso residents’ full answers to whether Mayorkas should keep his job, click here.