By Steve Neavling
House Republicans are scheduled to vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas next week.
The Homeland Security Commission will meet at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to mark up articles of impeachment, accusing Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in connection with his handling of the southern border.
Republicans made the announcement Wednesday.
The committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., insists that Mayorkas’ inaction at the border “cost American families countless innocent lives.”
“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,” Green said in a statement. “We also heard from Americans grieving the consequences of Secretary Mayorkas’ 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’ 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.”
Despite Green’s rhetoric, Republicans failed to show that Mayorkas committed high crimes or misdemeanors and never interviewed him or anyone from the Biden administration to address his conduct, The New York Times reported last week.
Democrats criticized the proceedings as a political attack over policy differences and had nothing to do with high crimes and misdemeanors.
The last time a cabinet member was impeached was 1876. William Belknap, the secretary of war for President Ulysses Grant, was impeached for his role in a trader post scandal, but he was acquitted by the Senate.
