A humanitarian crisis is growing quickly in parts of Texas and Arizona, as thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied illegal immigrant teenagers flood across the border and the federal government moves them to various locations for shelter.
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar says this mess is entirely the work of the Obama administration and that Attorney General Eric Holder needs to be impeached for flouting federal law and effectively engaging in human smuggling.
Gosar has called for Holder’s resignation several times in the past, over issues such as the fatally botched gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious and the Justice Department harassment of Fox News Channel reporter James Rosen. He says the attorney general’s latest actions make it imperative that he be removed.
“This is the continuing destruction of the rule of law and the constitutional framework which we operate under,” said Gosar, who cited as evidence that Holder needs to be removed from office.
“USC § 1324 (a)(1)(A) reads ‘knowingly, or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to enter or remains in the United State in violation of law, transports or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise in futherance of such violation of the law,'” said Gosar.
“I’ve contended now, and it’s been supported by a U.S. federal judge, that the attorney general is in fact violating criminal smuggling laws. Congress has the ability to impugn those people that actually disregard the rule of law. It’s time to call him into question to stop the furtherance of the destruction of the rule of law,” he said.
Gosar says the crisis along the border is the latest impetus for removing Holder from office but he says support for impeachment is increasing and the public outrage is growing about several other issues as well.
“People are fed up. We saw the election last night (that defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor). People are scared and they’re angry at a government that will not uphold the rule of law. That’s what made us special. He is to tell the president, ‘Hey, you’re overreaching,’ whether it be immigration, whether it be prisoner release at Guantanamo, whether it be Fast and Furious, whether it be Benghazi behind the scenes. In all this stuff, the attorney general is required to uphold the rule of law, and if he can’t, he needs to get out of the way,” said Gosar.
“If the House knows a breakdown of the law is occurring,it is their due diligence to file the articles of impeachment, to hold the attorney general accountable and make sure that we find an attorney general that can actually comply with the rule of law,” he said.
According to the government’s own data, the number of teenage illegals coming to America in the first half of 2014 easily dwarfs the total number from 2013 and previous years. Gosar says the massive influx is no coincidence.
“The president said that he would not deport anybody, and then the attorney general was complicit in saying that they would not uphold the rule of law in border security. They perpetuated this issue and what we’re seeing right now is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Gosar.
“What we’re generating is whole new generations of ‘dreamers’ that are then being taken by plane. At least seven different flights have come from Texas to Arizona. These people have been moved around without food, water, shelter and many have not had any vaccinations,” he said.
The congressman said his staff recently met with Homeland Security officials about the government’s transporting of illegal immigrants from one state to another. He says DHS could not cite any part of federal allowing them to do what they are doing and further states that the federal government gave no advanced notice to him or Arizona state officials that thousands of destitute people would be transported to their state.
To further complicate matters, Gosar says most of the illegal immigrants have been coached to tell U.S. Border Patrol agents that they are seeking asylum from Mexican drug cartels or some other nefarious entity, which then compels the border agents not to return them across the border.
Gosar admits he does not have any Democrats on board with the idea of impeaching Eric Holder, but that won’t stop him from trying to bring it to the floor.
In the meantime, a flood of illegal immigrants is pouring across the border and being left in squalid conditions in Texas and Arizona. Gosar says those problems should be addressed decisively.
“The first thing we need to do is enforce the immigration law, tell them they will not be accepted and that they will be returned home. We have to highlight the complicit behavior that is being shown by this U.S. district judge that shows that DHS is actually taking illegal immigrants that have crossed the border recently and then connected them with their illegal parents within the states,” said Gosar.
“These are not limited to Arizona. They’ve gone to New York and Maryland as well. So we need to highlight this aspect that we need to uphold the rule of law. There’s a right way of coming in and there’s a wrong way. This is the wrong way and we cannot tolerate it,” he said.
