AZ Sheriff Testifies of 'Modern Day Slavery' at Border, Says Biden Turned on 'Welcome Sign'

CAPITOL HILL - President Biden turned on the welcome sign. That's what an Arizona border sheriff just told Congress. Since Biden took office, the number of illegal migrants crossing the southern border has hit historic levels. In response to the crisis, one Republican has now filed impeachment charges against Biden's Homeland Security secretary.

Republicans had promised to investigate the Biden administration's handling of multiple issues when they gained the majority. They see the Southern Border as one of the most pressing matters. 
 
During the first in a series of border hearings, the Judiciary Committee heard from multiple people impacted by the unprecedented numbers of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Migrants wait to get into a U.S. government bus after crossing the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Dec. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)

Texan Brandon Dunn emotionally told members about his son Noah's death from fentanyl. He started the Forever 15 project to raise awareness about the drug's dangers.

"Noah was the third victim in less than two months in Hays County from illicit fentanyl," Dunn told the panel. 
 
Arizona Sheriff Mark Dannels testified about how little help was coming from the federal government to support his border county.
 
"The majority of people we talk to, the migrants that have been smuggled, which I call modern-day slavery what they're doing to these people, they tell us the reason they're here is because of President Biden and the welcoming sign," said Sheriff Dannels. 

As the number of migrant encounters and illegal border crossings reaches historic levels, the panel could move to build a case for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
 
The Biden administration recently began new policies to address the record number of migrant crossings including a legal pathway for Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Haitian, and Cuban immigrants to enter the country. Preliminary numbers from the past month indicate that illegal crossings have finally started to decline since the new policy was announced. 
 
To some Democrats, the hearings amount to a show trial.
 
"The first hearing will showcase the racist tendencies of the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the party that seeks to close the border to refugees from places like Cuba and Venezuela. It almost makes me miss their usual obsession with conspiracy theories and the FBI," said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). 

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) formally introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.  It's a nearly unprecedented move with only one cabinet official ever being impeached. It happened back in 1876.