The House Rules Committee approved articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday, adding to a potentially closed floor vote tomorrow as the narrow Republican party majority must work to convince its powerless members.
The majority of Republicans on the panel led by Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) approved the resolution over Democratic objections in an 8-4 vote, affirming Mayorkas’ “deliberate and systemic refusal to comply” with immigration laws and a breach of the public trust to testify to Congress last year that US borders are “secure.”
“The resolution before us is about accountability,” Cole said in his opening remarks. “I am not happy with our actions today. But the actions of Secretary Mayorkas – both in his willful refusal to enforce our laws and his abandonment of the confidence of the American people – require us to act.”
“Secretary Mayorkas refused to take the oath of office. If he will not do his duty, then unfortunately, the House must do its constitutional duty,” he added.
The House Rules Committee approved articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday, adding to a potentially closed floor vote tomorrow. AP
The House Homeland Security Committee voted in favor of the resolution along party lines early Wednesday morning, following a 15-hour effort by Democrats to halt proceedings and introduce other amendments.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) vowed in his first floor speech last week that Republicans would “move forward quickly” to pass the article, which would make Mayorkas the second Cabinet official in US history to be impeached.
Under President Ulysses S. Grant, the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 for corruption, but he resigned and was later acquitted in the Senate.
“Secretary Mayorkas refused to take the oath of office. If he is not going to do his duty, then unfortunately, the House must do its constitutional duty,” added Rules Committee chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.). Getty Images
The decision is also likely for President Biden’s top border enforcement official, given that Democrats control the Senate and no one has indicated a willingness to convict Mayorkas on either article.
House Republicans currently have a one-vote majority in the lower house, as Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana is absent due to cancer treatment and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) recovering from a car accident.
Moderate members like Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who was previously undecided, has publicly committed in recent weeks to a “yes” vote on the resolution, which is scheduled for a full House vote on Tuesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) vowed in his first floor speech last week that Republicans would “move forward quickly” to pass the article, which would make Mayorkas the second Cabinet official in US history to be impeached. Getty Images
Some Democrats — including Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania – have called for a growing “crisis” on the southern border.
Cuellar told The Post last week that he would not vote to indict Mayorkas.
In his fiery speech, Johnson declared that the Biden-Mayorkas border policy was “absolute madness” and posed a “clear and present danger” to the US unless it could be stopped.
During Monday’s hearing, House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), presented the article and vowed that if the secretary “was a Republican, I would do the same thing,” responding to Democratic objections that the firing was a partisan stunt.
He added that former President Richard Nixon also faces an impeachment inquiry that does not identify specific crimes, while Democrats have claimed throughout the process that Mayorkas cannot be impeached for his conduct.
During Monday’s hearing, House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), presented the article and vowed that if the secretary “was a Republican, I would do the same thing.” Getty Images
House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) responded that the resolution was “a betrayal of the committee’s bipartisan record since it was established after 9/11.”
“Republicans have failed to make a constitutionally viable case,” he said, calling the resulting resolution a “false prosecution” that did not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors as stated in the Constitution.
Thompson further pointed to issues that “have already been addressed in court and decided in favor of the Biden administration,” citing last year’s Supreme Court decision in United States v. Texas, or that are being worked through the legal process.
The bill blames Mayorkas for “significantly contributing to unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, increased control of the Southwest border by drug cartels and the imposition of significant costs on States and areas affected by the influx of aliens.”
Specifically, it alleges the Homeland Security secretary implemented a de facto “catch and release” policy by failing to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which led to more than 8.5 million encounters with immigrants by US Customs and Border Protection since President Biden took office in January 2021. .
At least 7 million of those apprehensions occurred at the southern border, CBP data showed, breaking a record three years in a row.
In a September 30, 2021 memo, Mayorkas presented guidelines to reduce enforcement and other “effective mechanisms” to detain migrants and require them to appear for subsequent court hearings on their asylum claims.
In his fiery speech, Johnson declared that the Biden-Mayorkas border policy was “absolute madness” and posed a “clear and present danger” to the US unless it could be stopped. AP
The policy has led to a backlog of more than 3 million asylum cases, the impeachment resolution notes.
Other policies have increased humanitarian parole “en masse,” rather than the “case-by-case policy” required by federal law, he said, with up to 30,000 immigrants allowed in each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela waiting for them. US asylum hearing.
The crossing “creates a fiscal and humanitarian crisis and dramatically lowers the quality of life for residents” in border towns and some Democratic-run sanctuary cities like New York, the resolution added.
“For example, since 2022, more than 150,000 immigrants have passed through the New York City asylum system. Indeed the Mayor of New York City has said that ‘we are past our breaking point’ and that ‘[t]the issue will destroy New York City,’” it reads.
The bill blames Mayorkas for “significantly contributing to unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, increased control of the Southwest border by drug cartels and the imposition of significant costs on States and areas affected by the influx of aliens.” AP
“In fiscal year 2023, New York City is spending $1,450,000,000 to address the migrant crisis Alejandro N. Mayorkas, and city officials fear it will spend another $12,000,000,000 over the next three fiscal years, causing painful budget cuts to essential city services.”
Fentanyl seizures have increased from about 4,800 pounds in fiscal year 2020 to 27,000 in 2023 — making it “now the number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45,” according to the resolution.
And at least 361 border crossings have also appeared on the terrorist watch list during his time in office, he added, and Mexican cartels have benefited from a drop in cash through their “smuggling operations” of about $13 billion by 2022 – up from $500 million just four years earlier.
A second article of impeachment accused Mayorkas of having “willfully made false statements, and knowingly obstructed the lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security” by evading congressional records requests.
Rules Committee Democrats such as ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) have argued throughout the process that Mayorkas should not be prosecuted for his conduct. AP
It cited several statements during last year’s hearing before Congress in which he said the border was “secure” and “closed,” and that his agency had “operational control” of the border as defined by the Secure Fence Act of 2006.
The latter article also cited the secretary’s refusal to enforce the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocol, known as the Stay in Mexico policy, which requires migrants to await asylum hearings south of the US border.
If passed, the Senate would need to immediately begin hearing proceedings with several House GOP impeachment managers, as it also aims to pass a new border security bill that addresses issues related to asylum and parole.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
