By Steve Neavling
A resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was shelved Monday after a small group of Republicans joined House Democrats to refer the resolution to a committee.
The aim of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution was to force a vote on impeaching Mayorkas for allegedly violating his oath of office for allowing a record number of migrants to enter the country.
But these eight Republicans voted with Democrats to move the resolution to the Homeland Security Committee: Reps. Patrick Mchenry (N.C.), Tom McClintock (Calif.), John Duarte (Calif.), Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Cliff Bentz (Ore.), Ken Buck (Colo.) and Mike Turner (Ohio), The New York Times reports.
“Secretary Mayorkas continues to be laser-focused on the safety and security of our nation,” said Mia Ehrenberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. “This baseless attack is completely without merit and a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities.”
Greene’s resolution did not accuse Mayorkas of violating the law, but instead blamed him for the crowded border.
“Our border is wide open and Americans are dying everyday,” Greene wrote on the social media site X before the vote. “It’s time for Congress to hold the Biden administration accountable.”
Meanwhile, the Homeland Security Committee is in the “final phase of our five-phase investigation of Secretary Mayorkas, and we are continuing to compile compelling evidence of his role in this intentional and unprecedented border crisis,” a committee spokesman said.
Even if the House votes to impeach Mayorkas, the resolution is likely to be defeated by the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The last cabinet official to be impeached was William W. Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876.
