The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday announced an investigation into Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for “dereliction of duty,” launching what lawmakers expect to be a monthslong push to impeach the head of the Homeland Security Department.
Committee Chairman Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, released a lengthy report detailing Mr. Mayorkas’ record after two years in office. He said the record includes rollbacks of effective Trump-era policies and changes that invited unprecedented chaos at the southern border.
“What we know right now is Secretary Mayorkas has either violated or subverted at least 10 laws passed by the Congress of the United States,” Mr. Green said.
The lawmaker laid at Mr. Mayorkas’ feet the deaths of Americans from fentanyl overdoses, killings attributed to illegal immigrants and the deaths of thousands of migrants trying to jump the border.
Mr. Green said it’s too early to discuss impeachment. He said his investigation will end with a recommendation to the Judiciary Committee, which oversees impeachment proceedings. He said President Biden could end the process by firing Mr. Mayorkas.
“This guy’s failing. He’s put Americans at risk,” Mr. Green said. “The guy’s got to go.”
He accused Mr. Mayorkas of “violation of law” and “lying to Congress.”
Mr. Mayorkas has brushed aside the notion of impeachment and said he is focused on his job.
In a statement Wednesday, his department called the Republican arguments “baseless.”
“Instead of pointing fingers and pursuing baseless attacks, Congress should work with the department and pass comprehensive legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in decades,” the statement said.
Democrats said Republican criticism amounts to a difference in policy and that Mr. Mayorkas’ performance isn’t impeachable.
“The extreme MAGA Republicans running their conference have no legitimate argument for impeaching the secretary, who is simply enforcing border and immigration laws in an orderly, humane way, consistent with prior administrations of both parties,” said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.
He called the investigation “political theater” and said Republicans have been gunning for Mr. Mayorkas for months as part of a deal conservatives struck with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “in a transparent attempt to distract from their obvious dysfunction and dissension in the ranks.”
At a hearing Wednesday, three former high-ranking Homeland Security officials from the Trump administration detailed Mr. Mayorkas’ failings.
“The laws do not change between administrations, just the decision by this one not to follow the laws,” said Chad Wolf, who served as acting secretary at Homeland Security at the end of the Trump administration. “It is my professional opinion that this administration is derelict in its duty to faithfully execute the laws as written.”
Eleanor Acer, director of refugee protection at Human Rights First, was a witness for the Democrats. She said the Trump administration could stand accused of similar breaches of the law. She pointed to its use of the “Remain in Mexico” policy and other measures that blocked migrants from making asylum claims.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, California Democrat, was more pointed. He said a federal judge found Mr. Wolf to be serving “unlawfully” as secretary based on how he was installed.
“You have someone who’s acting unlawfully, someone who skips a congressional subpoena, and we’re going to be lectured by the majority about dereliction of duty of the current lawfully serving, Senate-confirmed secretary of homeland security. I think that’s interesting,” Mr. Swalwell said.
Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana said Republicans “take no pleasure” in investigating Mr. Mayorkas but feel obligated to make a case for the public.
“We’re going to judiciously, calmly and patiently lay out the case and details regarding Secretary Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty,” he said.
Mr. Green said he expects the investigation to take 11 or 12 weeks, but he added that the timeline might slip as the committee tries to probe tricky questions about how much money local communities are spending to handle the surge of illegal immigrants.
Impeachment was suggested despite a suddenly and surprisingly calm border.
Border Patrol agents are catching roughly 3,000 illegal immigrants a day, down from the 5,000 or so they averaged for much of the Biden term. It’s also far below the 10,000 a day from early May, just before the Title 42 pandemic border policy expired.
Mr. Mayorkas and his subordinates say the lower numbers show his plan is working.
Critics say it’s evidence that the secretary has shifted the flow of illegal immigrants away from Border Patrol agents and toward the country’s official ports of entry — the airports and official land border crossings — where they now show up for scheduled appointments to be caught and released.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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