‘Political games’: How Davids, GOP challengers are approaching border security deadlock

Rep. Sharice Davids was frustrated.

In a few hours, the House would impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. A first attempt a week earlier failed on a tie vote, as three Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the move because of a lack of evidence the controversial Biden cabinet official committed high crimes and misdemeanors.

And earlier on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not put a Senate bill to provide military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan up for the vote because it didn’t include provisions to help secure the southern border – after rejecting a bipartisan Senate deal to do just that before even seeing the language in the legislation.

“I think this is an example of, in some ways, politicians playing more political games,” Davids, a Kansas Democrat, told The Star in an interview on Tuesday afternoon.

“I think that calling for congressional action to do something like fix issues that we’re seeing at the border then changing your mind because it’s an election year. This is the definition of political games.”

As Republicans hope to win the White House, take back the Senate and maintain control of the House in the November election, conservatives in Congress continue to emphasize an influx of migration at the southern border.

It has resulted in a hard line policy approach that leaves little room for negotiation but plenty of room for electoral posturing – some Republican members have been clear that they believe the issue should be decided in November, rather than through congressional negotiations this year.

“I think immigration is still the one that Republicans think can get them to do well in 2024,” said Donald Haider-Markel, a political science professor at the University of Kansas. “And not just for the presidential race, but also for congressional races and statehouse races as well.”

The number of people seeking asylum at the southern border has surged amid several ongoing crises in Central America. Illegal border crossings have increased each of the past three years, though illegal crossings this January were cut in half.

Meanwhile, Republican governors have sent migrants to Democratic-controlled cities while they await trial and are unable to legally work, straining the service systems in cities like Chicago, New York and Washington.

Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, held by Davids, is a target for Republicans seeking to expand their thin majority in the House. Already, two Republicans are vying for the chance to take her on in November – former oncologist Prasanth Reddy and business owner Karen Crnkovich.

Davids has previously demonstrated a firm grip on the district, which spans much of the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro. Despite new district lines that added more Republican voters, Davids expanded on her margin in 2020, winning the seat by 12 percentage points.

Neither Reddy nor Crnkovich gave a yes or no answer to whether they would have voted to impeach Mayorkas. Crnkovich said she didn’t have a strong opinion because she hasn’t been following the process.

“I would say that, if pressed, I don’t think he’s done a good job,” Crnkovich said. “But I haven’t read the actual bill or listened to the actual testimony, so I don’t think I could give a real well-informed opinion.”

Reddy said he believes Mayorkas has failed to do his job, but acknowledged the Senate is unlikely to vote to convict the secretary.

“He’s totally failed, he’s made our country less safe, and he should, frankly, do us all a favor and resign,” Reddy said.

“With that said, it’s unfortunately obvious that the Senate does not have the votes to remove him from office. So, my focus would be on actions that can undo the damage he’s done as much as possible.”

The Mayorkas impeachment passed by one vote Tuesday evening, the first impeachment of a sitting cabinet member since the Reconstruction era.

Unlike in 1876, when War Secretary William Belknap was impeached for taking money for making military appointments, Mayorkas was not accused of a crime. Instead, Republicans have basically accused him of incompetence, alleging he isn’t working to implement laws passed by Congress.

It’s unclear how the Senate will handle the articles of impeachment – senators won’t return to the Capitol until Feb. 26 – but it is unlikely impeachment supporters will muster 60 votes to convict Mayorkas.

Some senators are still reeling from whiplash over the bipartisan border agreement. For months, Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, negotiated with Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Independent, to try and find compromise on border issues.

Traditionally, Democrats have supported reform to the legal immigration system – making it easier to process asylum claims, allowing more people into the country and securing a path to citizenship for people who have entered the country illegally.

Republicans, meanwhile, have focused on more security measures, specifically a physical wall that former President Donald Trump called for in his 2016 campaign. They have also pushed to immediately remove anyone who illegally crosses the southern border, a policy that contradicts current immigration law, which allows people to request asylum if they have a credible fear of persecution.

The resulting compromise contained money for Customs and Border Patrol to hire more officers, money for additional judges to process asylum claims, guaranteed legal counsel for children younger than 13 in removal proceedings and increased authority for asylum officer to approve claims. It also allowed President Joe Biden to refuse to take most asylum claims if more than 5,000 people are illegally crossing the border on average.

Davids didn’t commit to whether she would have supported the Senate deal, which never made it to the House for consideration. She said her top priorities when it came to the border were stemming the amount of fentanyl coming into the country, revising the asylum process and creating a pathway to citizenship to children who were brought into the country.

“I know that there is bipartisan support to address this stuff,” Davids said. “There’s bipartisan recognition and support for addressing the fentanyl crisis, for a pathway to citizenship for dreamers.”

Both Crnkovich and Reddy said they would not support the bipartisan border deal.

Crnkovich called it a “bad deal,” saying it had too many compromises. She said her top priority would be to get more resources to the border, which was a significant part of the border deal. It contained $7.6 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $6.7 billion for Customs and Border Patrol.

Reddy said he would have a “tough time getting to yes” because of the provisions allowing asylum officers to grant claims without court review and “taxpayer-funded attorneys for illegal immigrants,” even though the guaranteed legal counsel only applies to minors under 13 and people who are deemed incompetent to represent themselves.

“This should’ve been the first step in an open negotiation,” Reddy said. “Those issues could’ve been dealt with. Instead, the bill’s details were worked out by a handful of people behind closed doors, a vote was rushed, and now they’re onto other things.”

While the border has become a decisive issue in Republican primaries – the issue helped put Trump on his path to dominating the party – it’s unclear how much of an effect it will have in a general election.

Republicans in the New York City district that covers Long Island attempted to make immigration the key issue in a special election to replace former Rep. George Santos, a New York Republican who was removed after an indictment over misuse of campaign funds.

While thousands of migrants have been sent to New York, Democrat Tom Suozzi was able to criticize Republican inaction on the issue and won the election on Tuesday by nearly 8 percentage points.

Kansas City, and Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, hasn’t experienced the same influx of migrants. And while the New York district has trended Republican over the past few elections, the 3rd District has been increasingly voting for Democrats.

“If Sharice Davids is vulnerable, it’s likely not going to be about immigration,” said Neal Allen, a political science professor at Wichita State University. “It would be more about general economic issues involving the price of goods and services and employment.”

Still, Crnkovich stressed that the border is one of the top issues she hears about on the campaign trail.

“We’re very, very concerned about the human trafficking issues, the sex trafficking, the fentanyl that’s killing our kids and citizens,” Crnkovich said. “That’s really the number one thing when I’m talking to voters across all spectrums of the political sphere, people are really worried about the lack of security at our border.”

The 3rd District race will be overshadowed by a likely presidential rematch between Biden and Trump, who has already made it clear he plans to run on border policy.

That means that while the Davids campaign tries to keep the focus on access to abortion in Kansas’ 3rd District, border issues will still be a top issue in the campaign.

“In many ways, Democrats are left reacting to these critiques of immigration policy as well as the porous border. And I don’t think they’ve found a strong way to message back on it.” Haider-Markel said.

“So absolutely I think this will be a big issue in a district like District 3.”