Several of Missouri’s top national lawmakers have their eyes turned hard toward the U.S. border with Mexico.
And no one is peering more pointedly than U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt.
The state’s junior GOP senator from Glendale, has been relentless in pushing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Schmitt contends that more than 8.5 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border under President Joe Biden’s administration, and that deaths by fentanyl overdose have increased 94% in that period.
He blames the problem on the Biden administration’s “disastrous policies and Mayorkas’ sheer refusal to do his job.â€
Schmitt is joined in his fight against Mayorkas by Senate mate Josh Hawley.
Last week, the pair were two of 11 U.S. senators who sent a letter to their party’s chamber boss, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, urging him to fight for an impeachment trial in the Senate.
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The letter addressed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s rumored plan to scuttle the Mayorkas impeachment.
“This is an action rarely contemplated and never taken by the U.S. Senate in the history of our republic,†the letter stated.
On Feb. 13, Mayorkas was the first sitting cabinet member to be impeached in U.S. history when the Republican-led House voted to charge him with two counts: willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law; and breach of public trust.
The letter called on McConnell to oppose any effort by Democrats “to shirk their constitutional duty.â€
The letter appears to have had some effect.
On Tuesday, McConnell and U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, the Senate Minority whip and the GOP’s second-highest ranking senator, trial for Mayorkas.
(McConnell announced Wednesday that he would be stepping down from his minority leader role in November.)
Schmitt said Missourians should not consider the border problem to be far removed from the Missouri state line.
“Every state is now a border state, including Missouri,†Schmitt told the Post-Dispatch.
Schmitt said that on a recent trip to the border, “a Border Patrol agent ... said that the cartels have members operating as far into the interior of the United States as Kansas City.â€
The concern from Missouri lawmakers is not limited solely to the Senate.
U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, said Friday that the border/immigration issue is “the No. 1 issue†with the people he has talked to from his district.
Smith, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, represents a district that covers much of southern Missouri and part of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ metropolis.
On a visit Friday to Arnold, Smith said some reports indicate that the drug cartels operating south of the border are “making more money off human trafficking than off drugs.â€
“You want to make sure your country is safe,†Smith said, “and you want to know who’s in it.â€