WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is poised to edge closer to becoming the first presidential Cabinet member impeached in nearly 150 years.
The House Homeland Security Committee was expected to advance two articles of impeachment Tuesday night after spending all day debating them during a hearing where Republicans accused Mayorkas of exacerbating the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.
The articles charge that Mayorkas “willfully and systematically refused to comply with Federal immigration laws” amid a record surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and that he has “breached the public trust” in his claims to Congress that the border is secure.
The expected committee vote would send the articles to the full House for a vote as soon as next week.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said the House would move ahead with Mayorkas’ impeachment “by necessity” with a full House vote “as soon as possible.”
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., opened Tuesday’s hearing with an attack on Mayorkas, stating the panel had “exhausted all other options” to hold the secretary accountable.
He continued: “At the beginning of this Congress, each of us took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that we would well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office.”
“Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took a similar oath, but he has not lived up to it. He has willfully and systematically refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress and breached the trust of Congress and the American people,” Green said. “The results have been catastrophic, and have endangered the lives and livelihoods of all Americans.”
In his opening statements, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the committee, characterized the impeachment effort as a “sham.”
“This is a terrible day for the committee, the United States Constitution and our great country. Republican members of Congress, sworn to support and defend the constitution, are rejecting the framers’ clear intent, and over two centuries of precedent in favor of a sham impeachment,” Thompson said.
Thompson moved to adjourn the hearing, which would delay the committee’s effort to impeach Mayorkas. However, the motion was voted down by the committee’s Republican majority — all 18 of whom voted against it, and the 14 Democrats present voted in favor.
The hearing follows two official impeachment hearings by the House Homeland Security Committee against Mayorkas. Republicans heavily criticized Mayorkas’ decision-making, alleging failure to enforce border laws, resulting in the influx of violent criminals and drugs into the country.
“It is the most egregious breach of our national security in the history of this country,” said Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas. “Those effects are being played out every single day in so many places.”
In a pointed letter sent hours ahead of the hearing, Mayorkas provided a rebuttal to the charges against him.
“You claim that we have failed to enforce our immigration laws. That is false. We have provided Congress and your committee hours of testimony, thousands of documents, hundreds of briefings, and much more information that demonstrates quite clearly how we are enforcing the law,” Mayorkas wrote.
Mayorkas pointed to statistics collected since the Biden administration lifted Title 42 and its limitations on seeking asylum last May, noting they have since removed more than 500,000 individuals.
Mayorkas defended his work at the department and his negotiations with the Senate, and he urged the House to focus on updating the nation’s “broken and outdated” immigration laws for the 21st century and an era of record global migration.
Green disparaged Mayorkas’ letter as an “11th-hour response” to the committee that was “inadequate and unbecoming of a Cabinet secretary.”
Democrats and DHS continue to defend Mayorkas, arguing he is acting under his legal federal authorities at the department and that the criticisms against him do not rise to the level of impeachment. They’ve accused Republicans of playing political games and using impeachment to settle policy disputes.
Some Republicans criticize Mayorkas for not testifying during impeachment hearings. However, DHS has responded by highlighting his previous 27 appearances before Congress in the last three years, which is more than any other member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet.
“Impeachment has a high constitutional bar, and the House Republicans have come nowhere close to meeting it,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Even if the House impeaches Mayorkas, Senate conviction is highly improbable, given Democratic control.
The Associated Press and The Hill contributed to this report.
