WASHINGTON — The House Homeland Security Committee met Tuesday to discuss Republican-led impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
House Republicans accuse Mayorkas and the Biden administration of not following federal laws on immigration. Republicans say Mayorkas “has willfully and systemically refused to comply with Federal immigration laws.”
According to the articles, Republicans blame Mayorkas for allowing millions of people to enter the country illegally, “with many unlawfully remaining” in the U.S.
Mayorkas has also accused of breaching the “public trust” and “knowingly” obstructing “lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.”
“Today is a grave day. We have not approached this day or this process lightly. Secretary Mayorkas’ actions have forced our hand,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said in opening statements Tuesday.
Mayorkas called the impeachment proceedings against him “baseless” and the accusations made against him by the Homeland Security Committee “false.”
“I will defer a discussion of Constitutionality of your current effort to the many respected scholars and experts across the political spectrum who already have opined it is contrary to law,” Mayorkas wrote in a letter to the committee. “What I will not defer to others is a response to the politically motivated accusations and personal attacks you have made against me.”
Mayorkas said the “false accusations” made by the committee “do not” rattle him and “do not” divert him “from the law enforcement and broader public service mission to which I have devoted most of my career and to which I remain devoted.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called the move to impeach Mayorkas a political stunt in an election year.
“This is a terrible day for the committee, the United States Constitution and our great country,” he said. “The sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is a baseless political stunt by extreme MAGA Republicans.”
The House Homeland Security Committee is likely to vote — despite no proof there were high crimes and misdemeanors — to send the articles to the House for a floor vote next week.
