By Rick Manning
There have been more than nine million illegal aliens who have crossed the border since Joe Biden became president. Biden’s hand-picked Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has aided and abetted this invasion through his failure to enforce the laws of the land, and the House of Representatives was right to finally impeach him.
To put how many people have breached our borders over the past three years into perspective, nine million is roughly the population of the entire state of New Jersey. That’s right, under Mayorkas’ watch we have allowed the equivalent of the eleventh largest state in the nation to cross our borders. And that is not counting those who we don’t know about.
Why did it take months and months for the House to impeach Biden’s open border henchman?
What is known is that the vote last week initially failed as three Republicans: Ken Buck, Tom McClintock and Mike Gallagher voted against it and Majority Leader Steve Scalise missed the vote due to his battle with cancer. Earlier this week, Mr. Scalise heroically came to the Chamber to resume his duties and cast the deciding vote for impeachment.
What makes this intrigue matter is a peculiar turn of events which saw a few conservative members of Congress retract their support, seemingly swayed by promises of action on textile imports from China.
The American Prospect reports that the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), a group purportedly advocating for the American textile industry, met with Mayorkas, and suddenly, the impeachment momentum lost steam. Mayorkas pledged to increase oversight of Chinese textile imports, a move hailed by some as a victory for American businesses. However, a closer examination reveals a troubling conflict of interest.
Several key members of the NCTO have deep ties to China, raising doubts about their true allegiance and motives. Take Parkdale Mills, for example, whose president, Charles Heilig, sits on the board of NCTO. Parkdale Mills subsidiary, US Cotton LLC, directly imports significant quantities of cotton from China, including raw cotton. Similarly, Lycra, another NCTO member, has ties to China, the leading producer and exporter of the material. Disturbingly, the UN has raised concerns about Lycra’s potential involvement in forced labor and human trafficking of Uyghur and other minority workers.
Further complicating matters is Milliken and Company, yet another NCTO member, which openly pursues increased investments in China. Despite its membership in an organization supposedly championing American interests, Milliken’s actions suggest a willingness to prioritize its business dealings in China over domestic concerns.
Americans for Limited Government shares concerns by Representative Gallagher and others over Chinese slave labor abuses. But looking to an agreement by a conflicted special interest group and the HHS Secretary who heretofore had turned a blind eye to human trafficking at our own border, not to mention long-standing Chinese slave labor abuses as being anymore than eyewash would be naïve at best.
The seeming link between the reluctance of some members of Congress to impeach Mayorkas due to his new found concern over China’s slave labor policy reveals how unrelated issues and special interest actors often become instrumental in head scratching votes.
Fortunately, Mayorkas’ failure to due his job and defend our border has been answered by his impeachment. Now, it is the Senate’s job to put the Biden administration’s failure to defend our border on trial.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
