House Republicans are moving forward in their campaign to remove Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by announcing a mark-up session for official articles of impeachment.
“Over the last year, the House Committee on Homeland Security conducted a comprehensive investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at America’s borders, holding 10 hearings, publishing six reports totaling roughly 400 pages, and conducting extensive interviews with chief patrol agents for the U.S. Border Patrol,” said Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“Our thorough and fair investigation exposed Secretary Mayorkas’s abuse of power and refusal to comply with the law. In November, 201 Democrats voted to refer articles of impeachment against the secretary to our Committee and, having completed impeachment hearings earlier this month, we plan to mark up those articles next week.
“In the committee’s impeachment hearings, members received testimony from top legal officials that detailed how Secretary Mayorkas has failed to uphold his oath of office, how his actions and decisions rise to the level of impeachable offenses, and how his misconduct is costing states across the country.
“We also heard from Americans grieving the consequences of Secretary Mayorkas’s refusal to comply with the law and his abuse of power, which has cost American families countless innocent lives. This committee has conducted extensive oversight and passed historic legislation to secure the border.
“However, the final remedy for dealing directly with Secretary Mayorkas’s willful and systemic disregard for the rule of law is impeachment. After three years of this crisis and a year of investigations and proceedings, we must move forward with accountability.”
The mark-up session is scheduled to convene on Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. Members of the committee will offer and debate proposed amendments to draft articles of impeachment that have been circulating unofficially among panel Republicans.
If Mr. Mayorkas is impeached by the full House of Representatives, he would be only the second presidential Cabinet member ever to be booted. But, just as former Secretary of War George Belknap (accused of committing improprieties in administering government contracts) was acquitted by the Senate after being impeached by the House in 1876, the Senate Democratic majority today is all but certain to keep Mr. Mayorkas in office.
A simple majority of the House can impeach a federal official, but 60 Senate votes are required for a conviction and subsequent removal from office.
A spokesman for Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment. Mr. Thompson is best known for his role during the 117th Congress as chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
“Committee Republicans have failed to make a case for impeachment, failed to understand the Constitution, and failed to do anything to address challenges at the border. No amount of yelling, finger pointing, or faux righteous indignation can change this. Today’s hearing was nothing more than Republican rehash,” Mr. Thompson said.
“Attempting to impeach the secretary over policy differences, instead of working with Democrats on immigration and border policy reform, demonstrates that Republicans are only interested in using border security as a political talking point. Democrats will continue calling out this sham impeachment for what it is: a political stunt.”
Republicans on the panel have issued five interim reports in recent months as they have accumulated testimony and documents related to the impeachment effort. In the first of the five, issued in July 2023, Mr. Mayorkas was accused of flouting federal immigration laws rather than enforcing them.
“Mayorkas has ignored, abused, or failed to enforce nearly a dozen laws passed by Congress. Time after time, where the law unequivocally prohibits or requires certain actions by the secretary, Mayorkas has done the exact opposite. Federal law does not allow for the mass parole of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States,” the report stated.
“Mayorkas has broken with senior DHS officials before him, who followed the law and paroled a mere handful of aliens on their watch, and paroled hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior. The law requires DHS to detain illegal aliens who cross the border illegally, whether or not they claim asylum.
“Mayorkas has not only refused to detain hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, but created programs like Parole + ATD that directly contradict the law as written, despite the evidence showing that many illegal aliens who are never or only partially detained are almost never removed from the country.”
