Republican lawmakers on Friday doubled down on calls to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his failure to curtail the flood of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Jim Banks of Indiana said ending Mr. Mayorkas’ tenure will be a top priority should the GOP win the House majority in this year’s midterm elections.
“So many good policies that slowed immigration were undone by this administration,” Mr. Buck said during a panel discussion at the Centennial Institute’s Western Conservative Summit in Aurora, Colorado.“This administration should be ashamed.”
“Hear me loud and clear: we should impeach Secretary Mayorkas the first chance we get when you give us back control of the U.S. House,” he said.
Mr. Banks echoed Mr. Buck’s remarks, saying GOP lawmakers would “hold Joe Biden accountable for the first time since he’s been president.”
Customs and Border Patrol encounters at the southern border have skyrocketed under President Biden.
Republicans say his lax border policies and reversal of tough Trump-era policies contributed to a flood of migrants and illegal drugs crossing into the U.S.
Mr. Biden has said he inherited a “broken and dismantled” immigration system which his administration says is dependent upon Congress to fix.
Calls by Republicans to impeach Mr. Mayorkas are hardly new. Rep. And Biggs of Arizona introduced a bill last August to impeach him. It garnered 31 co-sponsors, many from within the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Calls for Mayorkas’ impeachment have more recently gained steam in the broader House Republican conference.
In April, 133 Republicans led by Mr. Banks, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, signed on to a scathing letter to Mr. Mayorkas seen by many as laying the groundwork for his impending impeachment.
In the letter, they accused the secretary of “actions to dismantle the security of our nation’s border and disregard for the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.”
“Your actions have willingly endangered American citizens and undermined the rule of law and our nation’s sovereignty,” the lawmakers wrote. “Your failure to secure the border and enforce the laws passed by Congress raises grave questions about your suitability.”
Mr. Banks said on Friday, that the administration has “created a magnet at the border.”
“The good news is that we have a Republican Party today that is more unified on this issue than I’ve ever seen before,” he said.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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