House Republicans on Sunday introduced two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and vowed to move quickly in their attempt to remove the Cabinet member for what they call his failure to manage the border. between the United States and Mexico. Democrats and the agency called the move a politically motivated stunt that lacks constitutional grounds to remove him from office.
Republicans maintain that Mayorkas is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that amount to a “deliberate and systemic refusal to comply with the law” on immigration and a “violation of the public trust.” Impeachment, they claim, is “Congress’s only viable option.”
“Alejandro N. Mayorkas deliberately and systematically refused to comply with immigration laws, failed to control the border to the detriment of national security, compromised public safety and violated the rule of law and the separation of powers established in the Constitution, to the detriment manifesto of the people of the United States,” reads the impeachment resolution.
Since taking control of the House in 2023, Republicans have pushed to remove Mayorkas from office. Sunday’s announcement comes as another impeachment attempt — to charge Democratic President Joe Biden in connection with his son Hunter’s business dealings — has struggled to move forward.
But Republicans have moved quickly against Mayorkas after a series of hearings in recent weeks. It all happens at a time when border security and immigration are key issues in the 2024 political campaigns and when Donald Trump, the favorite to obtain the Republican presidential nomination, promises to launch the “largest deportation operation” in history of the United States if he returns to the White House.
