Alejandro Mayorkas.Photo: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
House Republicans has revealed two articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of border security and illegal immigration.
Since Mayorkas took office, Republicans have criticized his handling of the southern border, largely blaming him for a spike in apprehensions at the border and an increase of illegal drugs smuggled across it.
Republicans have also been critical of Mayorkas' attempts to undo some Trump-era immigration rules, including the Migrant Protection Protocols, which requires those who arrive at the southern border seeking asylum to go back to Mexico and remain there until their immigration court date.
According to the American Immigration Council, the program (which went into effect in January 2019) “was used to send nearly 70,000 migrants back to Mexico before it was suspended, and then terminated, after President Biden took office.”
In August 2021, a federal court in Texas ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstate the program.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas arrives to testify during a Senate hearing on Oct. 31, 2023.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Legal experts aren’t convinced, however, that there’s evidence for an impeachment of Mayorkas. Speaking at an impeachment hearing held earlier this month, University of Missouri School of Law professor Frank Bowman said the issue is one of how executive authority is being exercised — disputes about which are commonplace.
“Every president wins some and loses others,” Bowman said, perABC News. “If the mere existence of such disputes were impeachable, every president and every Cabinet officer would be impeachable many times over.”
In its ownmemo, the Department of Homeland Security called the move to impeach Mayorkas a “farce,” adding, “Republicans have failed to provide any legitimate Constitutional grounds for impeachment according to countless legal experts of diverse political views, House Republicans’ own prior impeachment witness, and their fellow GOP Members.”
DHS added that the Biden administration has “removed, returned, or expelled more migrants in three years” than the Trump administration did in all of its four years.
President Joe Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speak at the FEMA headquarters on Aug. 31, 2023.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
The House committee plans to meet Tuesday morning to mark up the drafted articles, and if they are passed through the committee, House SpeakerMike Johnsonhas promised aswift impeachment voteon the House floor.
If the Republican-controlled House does vote to impeach Mayorkas, it would then be up to the Democratic-led Senate on whether to convict him — a move that’s unlikely.
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The Mayorkas impeachment comes amid a separate Republican-led inquiry into a potential impeachment of PresidentJoe Biden.
Former Republican House SpeakerKevin McCarthyannounced in September that the party would be launching an impeachment inquiry into Biden, accusing the president of using “his official office to coordinate with” his sonHunter Biden’s various business dealings.
Hunter has already been charged for alleged tax crimes related to his foreign business interests, though no evidence has implicated the president.
source: people.com
