The House on Wednesday announced its first hearing on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, officially kicking off the quest to oust the man who’s overseen the most chaotic border in modern history.
Rep. Mark Green, Tennessee Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said the hearing is “part of impeachment proceedings” against the secretary and will take place Jan. 10. No witnesses have been announced.
“The greatest domestic threat to the national security and the safety of the American people is Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,” Mr. Green said during a visit to the border Wednesday.
The House is already plowing ahead with impeachment proceedings against President Biden, and Mr. Mayorkas adds to the load — though the secretary has been a top target for Republicans from the day they claimed control of the House in January 2023.
An early test vote on impeaching Mr. Mayorkas, taken in November and pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, fell shy of the majority needed. Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the move.
The result was that Ms. Greene’s article of impeachment was referred to the Homeland Security Committee, where Mr. Green says he’s taking up the House’s “bipartisan vote” to pursue the issue.
Republicans said they think they’ve wrangled enough votes to successfully impeach Mr. Mayorkas the next time it comes up for a full vote.
“I think so,” said Rep. Nick LaLota, New York Republican. “I sit on the Homeland Security Committee. And Secretary Mayorkas has been in front of us a number of times in my 13 months in Congress, and he’s been a total disappointment in front of us each time.”
Several Republicans mentioned Mr. Mayorkas’ fraught relationship with Congress. He has perhaps the most antagonistic relationship of any member of Mr. Biden’s Cabinet.
“I will tell you I have not spoken to a lot of members in our in our delegation who are not in our caucus who are not supportive of impeaching a sitting cabinet member who’s continuously lied to Congress,” said Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Texas Republican.
Impeachment in the House requires a majority vote. Once someone is impeached, the Senate holds a trial, at which conviction and removal from office takes a two-thirds vote.
Given Democratic control of the Senate, that is unlikely.
No sitting Cabinet member has been impeached, though one post-Civil War official resigned just ahead of going through the process. The Senate held a trial despite the man no longer being in office and fell short of the vote needed to convict.
Officials at the Homeland Security Department have brushed aside impeachment talk, saying the secretary is focused on his job. The department also says the impeachment is based on policy differences, not the high crimes and misdemeanors required under the Constitution.
Ms. Greene filed her impeachment resolution after two of her constituents were killed in a collision with a man believed to be smuggling migrants across the border in Texas.
Her article of impeachment details the unprecedented number of people flooding the border and accuses Mr. Mayorkas of an “inability to enforce the law” and “a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties.”
Mr. Green, on Wednesday, previewed his own case against Mr. Mayorkas, saying the secretary has “subverted” the law, “lied” to Congress and “defied” court orders.
How much of the border chaos can be laid at Mr. Mayorkas’ feet is heatedly debated, but the extent of the chaos is not in doubt.
In December 2020, the last full month under President Trump, the Border Patrol recorded 71,141 arrests. But from March 2021, the first full month under Mr. Mayorkas, to November 2023, the latest month available, the Border Patrol averaged nearly 180,000 arrests.
That works out to nearly 6 million over those 33 months.
Add in unauthorized immigrants who show up at official entry points — many of them invited to come through Mr. Mayorkas’ “parole” policies — and the number tops 8 million.
Homeland Security has also spotted record amounts of fentanyl pouring in, and Border Patrol agents have detected unprecedented numbers of terrorism suspects sneaking across the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
• Kerry Picket reported from Eagle Pass, Texas.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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