DHS focused on keeping Americans safe despite impeachment 'distractions': DHS official

Despite outside «distractions» the Department of Homeland Security is focused on keeping the American people safe, the acting deputy secretary told ABC News.

Acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo said the department, including Mayorkas, is working «day in and day out» to keep Americans safe and highlighted some of what the department accomplished in 2023.

Those «distractions» are presumably House Republicans, who are holding an impeachment hearing against Mayorkas on Wednesday due to their belief that he has failed to do enough to secure the border — a critique the secretary has rejected.

«We are focused on building on the work that we've done over the past year to prevent and prepare for and respond to so many threats,» Canegallo told ABC News. «When you think about what we're managing, whether it's the 25 natural disasters that had more than $1 billion in damages, strategic competition and aggression from nation states, that historic growth in global migration [or] transnational crime, there's just so much that this department is managing, and Secretary Mayorkas has really been able to drive us to make historic investments in our workforce in innovation and partnerships, and notwithstanding some significant challenges, there's a lot that we have to be proud of,» she said.

House Republicans, who are holding an impeachment hearing against Mayorkas on Wednesday, have said he hasn't done enough to secure the border — a critique the secretary has rejected.

During the past year, the department seized over 48,500 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill every American 33 times over, according to statistics provided by the department.

DHS stopped more fentanyl and arrested more drug traffickers in the last two years than the previous