Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas penned a blistering rebuttal on Tuesday morning hours ahead of House Republicans’ expected vote that moves the party one step closer to impeaching the first Cabinet secretary in almost 150 years.
“I assure you that your false accusations do not rattle me and do not divert me from the law enforcement and broader public service mission to which I have devoted most of my career and to which I remain devoted,” Mayorkas wrote in a letter to Rep. Mark Green, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee.
Green’s committee will meet Tuesday morning to consider two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in response to Republicans’ aversion to the Biden administration’s immigration policies. The articles charge Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and a “breach of public trust.”
Republicans control the committee and are expected to approve the articles, setting up a full House vote. Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to hold a floor vote quickly after the committee’s action. According to Punchbowl News, a floor vote could happen next week.
Mayorkas called the allegation that he hasn’t been responsive enough to congressional oversight “baseless.” Republicans in the breach of trust charge of making “knowingly” false statements and “knowingly” obstructing oversight of his department.
“I take very seriously my responsibility to cooperate in good faith with Congress’s oversight function,” Mayorkas wrote. “I have devoted significant Departmental resources and personal time to this effort.”
The White House and House Democrats have slammed the effort on numerous fronts, including the possibility that a Cabinet official would be impeached over poor performance or a policy dispute.
Some conservative scholars have warned that impeaching an official for being bad at their job sets a disturbing new precedent for one of Congress’ highest powers. Even some House Republicans have expressed reservations over the party’s case against Mayorkas.
Impeachment is constitutionally required to meet the standard of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” but the latter categories of “high crimes and misdemeanors” are not defined. Effectively, House lawmakers themselves have the power to decide what reaches the impeachment standard.
Mayorkas also argued that the only way to solve the nation’s border crisis fully is for Congress to act. He pointed out that he has met with senators from both parties who have been working for months to broker a bipartisan deal to tough immigration laws in exchange for additional US aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“We need a legislative solution and only Congress can provide it,” he wrote.
House Republicans are aghast over the current situation on the U.S. southern border. Democratic mayors and governors have also pleaded to the White House for help as the number of migrants has overwhelmed cities and states far beyond the border. Polling shows that immigration is one of President Joe Biden’s weakest issues ahead of his reelection campaign.
Last week, US Customs and Border Protection announced that there were nearly 250,000 arrests on the Mexican border in December alone, surpassing the previous high set a month earlier. The agency, which operates within Mayorkas’ sprawling department, also said that encounters fell by over 50% within the first two weeks of January “consistent with historical trends and enhanced enforcement.”
