Twenty House Republicans on Tuesday called for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be impeached over his handling of the ongoing migrant crisis at the southern border.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas last year, was joined by the delegation at a press conference on Tuesday. Biggs made the case that Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors” worthy of impeachment, the New York Post reported. “Secretary Mayorkas has released more than one million illegal aliens into the country,” Biggs said. “Most of these released illegal aliens will never be heard from again.”
Biggs — who has stated that he will challenge incumbent House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Speaker of the House in January — argued that Mayorkas has “failed to maintain operational control of the border as required under the law.”
The Arizona Republican also stated that the DHS chief “may have lied to Congress” when he testified that the border was under control, in addition to further accusations that he failed to adequately apprehend illegal immigrants as required by law. “The law is clear, illegal aliens shall be detained,” Biggs said.
Biggs was joined by a number of his House Freedom Caucus colleagues who likewise condemned Mayorkas’s handling of the southern border.
“He knows what to do, yet he’s literally refusing to do it – purposefully,” said U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), adding that Mayorkas is “purposefully endangering the American people and migrants who seek to come here.”
“You bet this is a high crime and misdemeanor,“ Roy added.
“Secretary Mayorkas has refused to address this crisis. But we won’t. He regularly lies to the American people, claiming that the southern border is closed. I’ve been there. It’s wide open,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said at the press conference.
“In the private sector, if you don’t do your job, you get canned. So why is Mayorkas still our DHS Secretary when there were 230,678 illegal encounters at our southern border in October alone?” U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
Rep. @andybiggs4az: “I expect the House Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment inquiry in the 118th Congress, formally investigate Secretary Mayorkas, and finally to proceed to impeach him.” pic.twitter.com/TY7W8THMm1
— The Hill (@thehill) December 14, 2022
In order to impeach Mayorkas, the House would need to pass a resolution making the case for high crimes and misdemeanors by a simple majority vote. The Senate would then hear the impeachment trial and two-thirds would need to vote to convict for Mayorkas to be removed from office, which is highly unlikely given that Democrats control the chamber.
United States Customs and Border Patrol reported a record 2.3 million migrant encounters in the fiscal year 2022. The figure is far higher when counting “getaways” and illegal aliens who remain undetected.
