WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee is preparing for only the second impeachment of a Cabinet member in U.S. history.
The Republican-led committee will mark articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday because what Democrats say is nothing more than a difference in immigration policy between the two parties.
Republicans in the House of Representatives on Sunday published the text of two articles an impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors” allegedly committed by Mayorkas, which they will mark as a replacement amendment and vote on H. Res. 863first introduced last year by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The first article accuses Mayorkas of a “deliberate and systematic refusal to comply with the law” regarding “immigration and border security.”
The second article speaks of a “breach of public trust”. It said Mayorkas declared in his testimony to Congress that the U.S. southern border was “secure.” Republicans disagree, arguing that other statements from Mayorkas are false.
Only one cabinet member in US history William W. Belknap was indicted for corruption in 1876. The former Iowa state lawmaker has been charged with five articles of impeachment for “criminally disregarding his duties as Secretary of War and abusing his high office for mere profiteering.” Although the House of Representatives passed articles of impeachment against him, he was tried and acquitted by the Senate.
The move to impeach Mayorkas comes as immigration remains a top issue in Congress and the Senate is finalizing details of a bipartisan immigration deal to manage the U.S.-Mexico border. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has not indicated he would bring up this bill if the Senate passes it.
The current GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, has also lobbied Republicans in Congress to reject the bipartisan agreement, even though negotiators have so far resisted this demand.
The text of the bipartisan agreement in the Senate is expected this week, according to negotiators.
“Illegal exercise”
The White House and congressional Democrats have criticized House Republicans for pushing forward with impeachment, calling the move a “political game.”
“The (Homeland Security Committee) Republican impeachment efforts are not only an illegitimate exercise unworthy of the task for which members of Congress were sent to Washington, they are also baseless,” a DHS spokesperson said.
The White House has also argued that President Joe Biden is willing to make concessions on US border policy. Setting tough immigration policies under the bipartisan Senate deal would lead to changes in asylum law and limit his administration’s exploit of parole powers to grant momentary protection to migrants.
“What has been negotiated would — if enacted into law — be the toughest and fairest border security reform package our country has ever had,” Biden said in a statement Friday. “It would give me as president new emergency authority to close the border if it is overwhelmed. And if I were given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill.”
House Republicans also accuse Mayorkas in their articles of impeachment of abusing his parole power by granting it to migrants at the U.S. border and establishing parole for certain nationals such as Afghans, Ukrainians, Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans, among others.
The parole board has existed since the 1950s.
Tennessee Department of Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green held multiple impeachment hearings against Mayorkas. In a hearingGreen had attorneys general from Montana, Oklahoma and Missouri appear as witnesses. They argued that Mayorkas had failed to fulfill his oath of office, often citing the high number of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border and therefore should be charged.
The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said in a statement that the impeachment proceedings were a “sham.”
“What is glaringly missing from these articles is a genuine accusation or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors — the constitutional standard for impeachment,” he said. “They are abusing Congress’s impeachment power to appease their MAGA members, score political points, and divert Americans’ attention from their inactive Congress.”
Green held another hearing The witnesses included two mothers who said the Biden administration’s immigration policies played a role in their daughters’ deaths.
The push to oust Mayorkas was led by Georgia Rep. Greene. Since entering Congress in 2021, Greene has introduced articles of impeachment against Biden, Mayorkas, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and District of Columbia Attorney General Matthew M. Graves.
The Constitution gives authority to Congress to dismiss the president, vice president, and federal officials “for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
