(The Center Square) – Fourteen Republican attorneys general, led by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, have called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign.

“We, the Attorneys General of 14 States, write to demand your immediate resignation,” they wrote.

“Secretary Mayorkas has failed to deliver on the core function of the agency he runs: ‘to secure the nation from the many threats we face,’” Moody said. “Through his refusal to enforce federal laws, including deporting criminals and maintaining order at the border, he has put America and our respective states on the verge of a national security crisis. The only individuals who are more secure because of our DHS secretary are the drug cartels and human smugglers. Secretary Mayorkas should admit his failure to achieve the basic mission of this agency and resign immediately.”

Joining Moody are the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

When Mayorkas was sworn into office, he swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic,” the attorneys general said.

“You have violated that oath every day since you took office. Americans have died because of your failure to obey the law and do your solemn duty. More Americans will unnecessarily die and suffer for as long as you remain Secretary,” they wrote.

Referring to remarks Mayorkas gave at the U.S. Conference of Mayors last month, they argue, “As you publicly boast about your abject refusal to enforce the laws enacted by Congress to keep us safe, our southwest border is a disaster and our nation is on the verge of a national security crisis. Some of our States lie on the southwest border and live your catastrophic actions daily. Others have traveled to the southwest border and witnessed first-hand your utter malfeasance as Secretary. The effects of your dismal leadership at DHS are felt in each of our States.”

At the conference, Mayorkas discussed how he changed immigration guidelines, radically altering Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ ability to enforce existing laws. He said, “articulated what I felt was a very important principle: that we will not dedicate our limited enforcement resources to apprehend individuals who have been here in this country for many years, who have been contributing members of our communities.

“Unlawful presence in the United States will alone not be a basis for an immigration enforcement action but rather, we will allocate our efforts, we will allocate our resources on those individuals who present a current public safety threat, a threat to national security, or a threat to our border security, and that is a very important principle.”

The fact that being in the U.S. illegally is a federal crime that DHS will no longer enforce, is a dereliction of duty, those who’ve called on him to resign and be impeached argue, including U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, and Texas Congressmen Chip Roy and Michael Cloud, among others.

As each of the attorneys general have been combating escalating crimes related to illegal immigration and have seen a wave of illicit drugs pour into their states, they point to Mayorkas’ failed leadership as a contributing factor.

“From the time you took office to December 2021,” they wrote, “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.”

Since he’s been in office, “…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.”

Last year, Customs and Border Protection continued to report on repeat sex offenders re-entering the U.S. illegally. From November 2020 to August 2021, border patrol agents arrested 8,691 known criminals who entered the U.S. illegally. Combined, they committed 12,685 crimes in the U.S.

Border Patrol agents estimate these numbers only represent a fraction of those coming through who they don’t catch.

The Del Rio sector alone reported a 1,400% surge in the number of sex offenders its agents apprehended.

“That more criminals are entering our country is, of course, a natural consequence of your refusal to enforce the law,” they wrote. “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.”

Mayorkas and President Joe Biden have maintained that their approach is more humane than the previous administration’s as they continue to reverse policies it had put in place.