House Republicans are closer to a full impeachment vote against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, approving a set of articles that will bring a vote to the floor.
The GOP House approved the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas for “willfully and systematically” flouting federal immigration laws, breaching public trust.
The House Homeland Security Committee voted 18-15 along party lines, affirming that Mayorkas failed to detain migrants crossing the border before he decided whether to grant asylum.
According to Axios, lawmakers debated late into the night with arguments for why Mayorkas should be the first Cabinet member to be removed from office in almost 150 years.
The committee voted 18-15 along party lines.
Republicans accused Mayorkas of “willfully and systemically refus[ing] to comply” with federal laws restricting illegal immigration.
The second article argued that Mayorkas committed a “breach of the public trust” by dereliction of duty.
Homeland Security chair Mark Green (R-TN) said in a statement:
“Secretary Mayorkas has also completely disregarded the separation of powers, a bedrock of our constitutional republic.”
“His lawless behavior was exactly what the framers gave us the impeachment power to remedy.”
However, Democrats accused Republicans of lacking evidence to support impeachment against Mayorkas.
“What is glaringly missing from these articles is any real charge, or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors,” ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said in a statement.
Republicans can only afford to lose two votes on the floor of the House, and it’s unclear whether they have the votes due to Rep. Green needing to be more forthcoming.
But according to Politico, Green was overheard saying he believes the numbers are there and plans to meet with several GOP holdouts in the days ahead.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) also said he “imagined” the measure would pass.
The unprecedented migrant crossings under Joe Biden have pushed blue states and sanctuary cities to their limits, with voters placing the blame on the president.
The border deal, which comes with funding for Ukraine, is currently being negotiated between the White House and Senate Republicans.
Biden promised to “shut the border down” if Republicans gave him the power to do so.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) dismissed the proposed deal as woefully inadequate, insisting Biden has existing authority to crack down on crossings if he really wanted to.
“For almost a year, committee Democrats have turned a blind eye to the victims of the border crisis while berating us for spending what they believed was too much time investigating Secretary Mayorkas’ handling of the border,” Green said in his opening remarks.
“If your refusal to obey the law leads to the death of your fellow citizens, you no longer deserve to keep your job, you’re breaking the people’s trust.”
As The New York Post reported:
In a letter hours before the hearing, Mayorkas denounced Green’s committee for making “politically motivated accusations and personal attacks” against him, while agreeing that the US immigration system was “broken.”
“We have provided Congress and your Committee hours of testimony, thousands of documents, hundreds of briefings, and much more information that demonstrates quite clearly how we are enforcing the law,” he wrote.
“Daily removals and returns are nearly double what they were compared to the pre-pandemic average from 2014 to 2019. The majority of individuals encountered at the Southwest Border throughout this Administration have been removed, returned, or expelled.”
