After the revelation of flyers at a Mexican shelter reminding unlawful border crossers “to vote for President Biden,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas couldn’t tell Congress on Tuesday how his department could safeguard U.S. elections from illegal voting by foreigners.
“We do not oversee the election enrollment process,” Mayorkas told the House Homeland Security Committee. “What we do is enforce our borders.”
The House voted to impeach Mayorkas in February for failure to enforce border laws. House members delivered the two articles of impeachment Tuesday to the Senate, where the Democrat majority wasn’t expected to hold a trial.
Late Monday, The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project posted the content of the flyers using video of copies displayed by a nongovernmental organization called Resource Center Matamoros in Tamaulipas, Mexico, and discovered by the news outlet Muckraker. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news and commentary outlet.)
It’s not clear whether Resource Center Matamoros authorized the flyers or did anything to remove them from the shelter for migrants. RCM Executive Director Gaby Zavala didn’t respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal for this report.
Resource Center Matamoros describes itself as “a leading non-governmental organization providing trauma-informed care.”
Translated from Spanish, the Oversight Project notes, the flyers posted at Resource Center Matamoros say: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.”
During the hearing held Tuesday by the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Dan Bishop, R-S.C., asked about the Oversight Project’s findings, with a cardboard cutout behind him showing the contents of the flyer.
RCM has disputed the authenticity of the flyers, Bishop said, and asked Mayorkas what the Department of Homeland Security is doing to ensure that foreign citizens aren’t illegally voting in federal elections, considering the millions of illegal border crossers encountered by the Border Patrol plus about 2 million known “gotaways.”
“Congressman, individuals who are not citizens of the United States cannot vote in federal elections,” Mayorkas answered.
“That’s not what I asked,” Bishop said. “I asked what actions DHS is taking to ensure that that doesn’t occur.”
Mayorkas said it’s up to local governments.
“I believe that it is state and local election officials that monitor the eligibility of individuals,” Mayorkas said. “We do not oversee the election enrollment process. What we do is enforce our borders.”
Not satisfied, Bishop followed up again.
“How can Congress and the American people have confidence that the outcome of close elections will not turn on the votes of noncitizens who have registered and voted unlawfully?” Bishop asked.
Again, Mayorkas didn’t have a direct answer.
“Congressman, election security is one of our priorities in the distribution of federal grant funds to state and local jurisdictions,” Mayorkas said. “We have made election security a priority.”
Federal law prohibits foreign nationals, or non-U.S. citizens, from voting in federal elections. On Friday, former President Donald Trump endorsed legislation proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in elections.
On its website, Resource Center Matamoras describes itself as a six-unit office complex that is “the home for HIAS, which is providing legal assistance and assistance with obtaining formal documents for job search and integration into the city of Matamoros [in Mexico] as they wait to access the asylum process in the U.S.”
HIAS, which originally stood for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, was founded more than 100 years ago to help Jews fleeing persecution in Europe.
Mayorkas is a former board member of HIAS, as The Daily Signal reported Monday night. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., brought up his involvement during the House hearing, calling it a “bombshell report.”
“They are telling illegal aliens, noncitizens, to come vote for Joe Biden,” Greene said. “This is corruption at the deepest level. As a matter of fact, I would call it treason.”
In a separate House Judiciary hearing, Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., asked Attorney General Merrick Garland about the flyer urging illegal aliens to vote for Biden. Clyde held up the flyer.
“That’s what this poster says; [it] reminds illegal immigrants to vote for President Biden,” Clyde said. “So, is the Department of Justice concerned about illegal aliens voting in elections?”
Garland replied that he wasn’t familiar with the message to illegal immigrants to vote for Biden.
“The Department of Justice is concerned about any illegalities concerning voting,” the attorney general said. “I’ve never seen that poster. I’ve never heard of that poster. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard anybody mention that poster.”
Clyde responded, “Well, now you have.”
