The D.C. suits have been put on notice. There’s no squirming out of this anymore.
Because White House impeachment news has the D.C. Swamp totally freaking out.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has moved closer to impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, for his role in failing to properly oversee the country’s protracted immigration issue.
A pair of articles of impeachment against Mayorkas were sent to the House for a vote in the wee hours of Wednesday morning by the House Homeland Security Committee, which voted 18–15 with no one crossing the political aisle with their vote.
Next week could be the earliest that the whole House votes. After the House votes to impeach, the matter will be brought before the Senate for a trial.
Despite the belief of top House Republicans that they have the support necessary to impeach the DHS secretary, their thin majority means that they can only lose two votes. Republicans in the House intend to reaffirm their united front by checking in with members this week. “We are going to have to pass that,” Majority Whip Tom Emmer told CNN before the vote. “I mean, it’s pretty egregious what he’s done.”
The House will hold a vote to remove Mayorkas from office “as soon as possible,” according to Speaker Mike Johnson.
A “breach of the public trust” and a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” regarding immigration are said to be among Mayorkas’ “high crimes and misdemeanors” in the impeachment proceedings.
“Alejandro N. Mayorkas willfully and systemically refused to comply with the immigration laws, failed to control the border to the detriment of national security, compromised public safety, and violated the rule of law and separation of powers in the Constitution, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States,” the impeachment articles argue.
🚨Speaker Johnson pushes forward Mayorkas impeachment on House Floor:
“We will be moving forward swiftly on those articles. It’s long overdue. But Secretary Mayorkas is only part of the problem.”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 31, 2024
Rare is the effort to impeach a Cabinet secretary; the United States has only ever managed it once. William Belknap was impeached in 1876 for corruption involving his government contracts while serving as war secretary to President Ulysses Grant. This is one of the first attempts to remove a cabinet secretary from office for defying the law.
Concern about the increasing numbers of illegal immigration has led to calls for Mayorkas’ impeachment. Data supplied by the House GOP indicates that the nation’s highest number of illegal border crossings occurred in fiscal year 2023.
Here is a quick update on what we are doing in Congress to hold Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for his willful negligence of our southern border. pic.twitter.com/y7IaoQjfea
— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) February 1, 2024
More than six million unlawful crossings and seven and a half million enforcement interactions have occurred across the country during Biden’s term. Over 27,000 pounds of fentanyl were confiscated by Customs and Border Protection in the fiscal year 2023. Over 300,000 illegal immigrants were encountered by CBP in December 2023, setting a new record.
Joe Biden has also presided over the apprehension of 267 people whose names are on the terrorism watchlist as they attempted to breach the southern border.
Federal officials issued a warning after the October 7 assaults that individuals affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah may be attempting to enter the United States through the southern border.
A contentious Supreme Court ruling on immigration enforcement has also prompted the House to consider impeaching Mayorkas. The razor wire that Texas had put along its southern border was last week ordered to be removed by the court at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, which had argued that the wire posed a threat to migrants and a hindrance to Border Patrol agents’ ability to do their jobs.
The wire was a component of a larger operation in Texas aimed at reducing the influx of illegal immigrants. In the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas is expected to present its case next month, seeking more long-term protection against non-legal immigration.
Thus far, U.S. Senators have been quiet on the issue as a number of Democrats are trying to defend their seats in their long-shot attempt to hold on to the Senate chamber this election season.
Signaling to voters that you don’t care about Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty would be a bad move for anyone trying to get as many votes as possible in a tight race.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
