Sens. Graham, Cruz warn DHS Secretary Mayorkas of possible impeachment if GOP wins Congress

GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz are warned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that he could face impeachment by a Republican-controlled Congress for "gross dereliction of duty" over his handling of the southern U.S. border. 

In a letter sent to Mayorkas on Wednesday, the senators compiled data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection of border crossings and drug seizures, comparing them to lower numbers during the Trump administration, Fox News reported. 

"Your failure to faithfully enforce this nation's immigration laws and willful blindness to the very real humanitarian crisis at our southern border amounts to a gross dereliction of duty and a violation of your oath of office," the senators wrote. 

"Despite the heroic efforts by the men and women of Border Patrol, who operate with very little support from Washington, D.C., you have failed to achieve any semblance of operational control of the southern border," wrote Graham, of South Carolina, and Cruz, of Texas.

During Mayorkas' 19 months running the department, there have been "over 4.4 million illegal crossings, including over 3.5 million apprehensions by CBP and at least 900,000 gotaways, who evaded apprehension," the senators also wrote. 

The two Senate Judiciary Committee members also addressed the opioid epidemic in the U.S., which they argue is being supplied by Mexican cartels smuggling fentanyl across the southern border, and their Chinese suppliers. 

The senators also argued that following the "disastrous withdrawal" of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year it's "near certainty" that terrorists from that country have entered the United States undetected, taking advantage of the lenient border policies he has put into place. 

"It is only a matter of time until we will see an attack on American soil from such terrorists," they wrote.

The senators concluded, "This is gross dereliction of duty and, if not corrected swiftly, could provide grounds for impeachment. 

"We fully expect that in a few months' time a Republican-led Congress will hold you to account for your willful negligence regarding the security of the southern border and the safety of the American people."