A Republican-led House panel approved articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier Wednesday for “willfully and systematically” violating federal immigration laws and violating the public trust.
The House Homeland Security Committee voted 18-15 along party lines for the two articles of impeachment, confirming that Mayorkas failed to detain migrants crossing the border before deciding whether to grant asylum.
The article also noted that the secretary ignored records requests from the committee and misled Congress about having “operational control” of the US border and maintained that it was “secure.”
The marathon hearing, which lasted more than 15 hours, saw several procedural attempts by Democrats to block impeachment efforts, with Republicans insisting that their year-long investigation had found enough evidence that Mayorkas violated his oath of office.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promised Friday to hold a floor vote on the article “as soon as possible” after issuing a memo earlier this month that cited 64 times the Biden administration compromised US border security.
If approved in the narrowly divided House, Mayorkas would be the second Cabinet official to be impeached in US history — and the first since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
A Republican-led House panel approved two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday. AP The article also confirmed that the secretary ignored records requests from the committee and misled Congress about having “operational control” of the US border and keeping it “secure.” Reuters
Moderate Republicans have increasingly indicated a willingness to move forward with the vote, with Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told reporters on Monday that he now favors prosecution.
Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) pointed out that even Democratic members of Congress such as Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania have referred to Mayorkas’ handling of the border as a “crisis.”
He went on to note six reports issued by majority committee staff on the “costs and consequences” of the Biden administration’s border policies and hearings with attorneys general and grieving mothers — one’s daughter killed by illegal immigrants; the other died of a fentanyl overdose.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced articles of impeachment last year, which passed the House on a party-line vote. AP
Both majority witness groups urged the House panel to indict Mayorkas, while legal scholars called by the minority argued the secretary’s actions did not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“For nearly a year, committee Democrats have turned a blind eye to the victims of the border crisis, while reprimanding us for spending what they believe is too much time investigating Secretary Mayorkas’ handling of the border,” Green said in his opening remarks.
“If your refusal to obey the law leads to the death of your fellow citizens, you no longer deserve to keep your job, you have broken the trust of the people.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promised Friday to hold a floor vote on the article “as soon as possible” after citing 64 times the Biden administration compromised US border security. AP
In a letter hours before the hearing, Mayorkas blasted Green’s committee for making “politically motivated accusations and personal attacks” against him, while agreeing that the US immigration system is “broken”.
“We have provided Congress and your Committees with hours of testimony, thousands of documents, hundreds of briefings, and much more information that clearly shows how we enforce the law,” he wrote.
“Daily removals and returns are nearly double the pre-pandemic average from 2014 to 2019. The majority of individuals found at the Southwest Border throughout this Administration have been removed, returned or deported.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and others also accused former President Donald Trump of starting the process ahead of his 2024 run, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called “absurd.” Reuters
Mayorkas and Democratic panelists said the Biden administration only differed with House Republicans on immigration policy — and both urged passage of a bipartisan Senate bill with border enforcement provisions.
Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) dismissed the proceedings as a “bogus impeachment” and said Republicans had “failed to make a constitutionally viable case.”
“The false impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is a baseless political stunt by extreme MAGA Republicans,” Thompson said in his opening statement, before attacking the chair and panelists who introduced the resolution.
“Chairman Green, Rep. Margaret [sic] Taylor Greene and others have pushed and even raised funds based on this premeditated and premeditated scapegoating of the secretary in a process akin to throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and others also accused former President Donald Trump of starting the process ahead of his 2024 run, which Johnson dismissed in a press conference Tuesday as “absurd.”
“I have spoken with former President Trump about this issue at length,” he told reporters. “He used his executive powers to control the system. President Biden came, reflexively, and did the opposite. And that is what caused this crisis.”
In early January, however, Mayorkas reportedly told CBP agents that 85% of immigrants who enter the US illegally are later released into the country to await their asylum hearings, some of which are scheduled 10 years from now.
Another program for humanitarian parole allowed 30,000 asylum seekers to enter from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela through the country’s legal gateway before their cases were tried.
At least 1.5 million “tourists” have also evaded detection by US immigration authorities when crossing the border.
Hundreds of other people trying to enter between the gates have appeared on terrorism watch lists, according to CBP data.
In total, more than 8.5 million immigrants have been apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection since President Biden took office in January 2021 — with 7 million encounters occurring at the southern border.
Fentanyl overdose deaths also rose during the same period, according to National Institutes of Health data, with the synthetic opioid heavily trafficked into the US by Mexican cartels.
Asked about the border on Tuesday, Biden told reporters: “I’ve done everything I can do.”
“Give me the power I ask for [for] since the day I entered the office. Give me the border patrol. Give me someone who can stop this and make it work,” he said, referring to negotiations on an additional $106 billion package that mostly includes military aid for Ukraine and Israel.
Senate Republicans have slammed the draft measure and Johnson has declared it “dead on arrival” in the House, with speakers demanding Biden sign an executive order ending “the mass release of illegals and dangerous people into our country.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
