“The Biden Administration’s lax border policies have meant big business for the cartels and human traffickers. Deadly fentanyl is flowing across our border in a way that we’ve never seen before. These lax policies and porous border are endangering the safety and lives of citizens in Missouri and across the country,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “My Office has taken more concrete action to secure the border than Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas has, and it’s far past time for new leadership at DHS – it’s time for Secretary Mayorkas to resign. The safety and security of our citizenry is at stake, and the Biden Administration’s handpicked leadership at DHS has completely and utterly failed the American people.”   In a letter to Secretary Mayorkas, the 14 attorneys general outline the failures of the secretary’s leadership. In the midst of a national opioid crisis, Mexican drug cartels have wasted no time in exploiting the porous Southern border. The letter states: “From the time you took office to December 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child in our country six times over—an increase of more than 30 percent since before you took office. If that much was detected and seized, we shudder to think how much more is slipping through each day…Any competent leader facing such disastrous results would quickly alter their policies to abate the extraordinary harm…Yet you continue undeterred, oblivious…to the destruction and deaths you are causing in American communities.”   The letter outlines that under Secretary Mayorkas’s watch, not only are unknown amounts of deadly drugs flooding into the country, but with no attempt to vet or certify the thousands of illegal immigrants entering through the southwest border, there is no way of knowing who is coming into the country. The letter states: “…the number of sex offenders arrested entering our country increased by an astounding 213 percent over the last fiscal year. Given your unlawful catch and release policies, we are left with many other unanswerable questions, like how many children are now being trafficked in our communities and how many sex offenders now prowl our streets.”   Finally, the letter points out that the natural consequence of Secretary Mayorkas’s refusal to enforce the law is the rise in convicted criminals entering the country. The letter states: “Deportations have fallen a staggering 70 percent since 2020…Perhaps most egregiously, you have refused to deport some of the most dangerous criminals, even though you are required by law to do so. That decision is shocking, especially because Democrats and Republicans alike have always prioritized the removal of criminals here illegally, including when you were Deputy Secretary of DHS from 2013-2016.”   Because of the abject refusal to carry out the duties Secretary Mayorkas swore to uphold, the coalition of attorneys general are calling for the secretary to resign immediately.   The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has been one of the most active attorneys general in the country relating to border issues. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has beaten the Biden Administration at every court level, from the district court to the United States Supreme Court, through its lawsuit over the Biden Administration’s cancellation of the Migrant Protection Protocols or “Remain in Mexico” policy. Because of that lawsuit, the Biden Administration is required to reimplement the program, and that lawsuit is set to be heard in front of SCOTUS in April. In addition to that suit, the Office has also filed suit to require the Biden Administration to continue construction of the Southwest border wall using previously appropriated funds for that purpose.   The full letter can be found here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/secretary-mayorkas-letter.pdf?sfvrsn=991dd3_2   Attorney General Schmitt joined the attorneys general of the following states in signing on to the letter: Florida, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia.