All 18 Republican members of the House Committee on Homeland Security (HCHS) voted on Jan. 31 after more than 14 hours of often impassioned debate to refer two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the full House for a final vote as the panel’s 15 Democrats unanimously opposed the measure.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he expects the impeachment measure to be voted on by the House of Representatives “as soon as possible.”
Before that can happen, however, the House Rules Committee, led by Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.), must adopt a rule for how the articles will be considered for that vote, including whether to allow amendments from the floor.
When the measure does reach the House floor for a final vote, there are 14 Democrats who may face a tough decision on how they will vote regarding Mr. Mayorkas’ future. That is because each of the 14 voted in favor of
H. Res. 957 on Jan. 17. That resolution was approved by the full House on a 225-187 vote, with 21 members not voting. Twelve of the 21 not voting were Democrats and nine were Republicans.
The resolution put the House on record in denouncing “the Biden administration’s open-borders policies ... condemn[ing] the national security and public safety crisis that President Joe Biden, ‘Border Czar’ Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and other Biden administration officials have created along the southwest border;
and urg[ing] President Biden to end his administration’s open-borders policies.”
The
14 Democrats include Colin Allred of Texas, Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Angie Craig of Minnesota, Michael Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Greg Landsman of Ohio, Susie Lee of Nevada, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Wiley Nickel of North Carolina, Mary Peltola of Alaska, Marie Perez of Washington, and Eli Sorenson of Illinois.
Article I of the measure accuses Mr. Mayorkas of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” and claims that, “In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States.
“His refusal to obey the law is not only an offense against the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, it also threatens our national security and has had a dire impact on communities across the country.”
Among more than a dozen examples of that refusal, the article declares that Mr. Mayorkas chose not to “comply with the detention mandate set forth in section 235(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, requiring that all applicants for admission who are ‘not clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted ... shall be detained for a [removal] proceeding ...’
“Instead of complying with this requirement, Alejandro N. Mayorkas implemented a catch and release scheme, whereby such aliens are unlawfully released, even without effective mechanisms to ensure appearances before the immigration courts for removal proceedings or to ensure removal in the case of aliens ordered removed.”
Article II accuses Mr. Mayorkas of breaching the public trust by his having “knowingly made false statements, and knowingly obstructed lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security [hereinafter referred to as ‘DHS’], principally to obfuscate the results of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.”
Among 10 alleged examples, the article argues that Mr. Mayorkas “delayed or denied access of DHS Office of Inspector General [herein-after referred to as ‘OIG’] to DHS records and information, hampering OIG’s ability to effectively perform its vital investigations, audits, inspections, and other reviews of agency programs and operations to satisfy the OIG’s obligations.”
There are 72 statutory OIGs working in Cabinet-level federal departments and independent agencies investigating allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse. The OIG system was established by Congress in 1978, and while the president appoints these officials, they answer first to Congress.
Throughout the day’s debate, Democrats claimed Mr. Mayorkas lacks needed resources to do his job, including sufficient space to hold all of the millions of illegal immigrants detained by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in an impassioned response, pointed to the homeland secretary’s budget requests and decisions to close detention centers.
“Secretary Mayorkas has requested less detention space. In fiscal year 2022, $2.7 billion for 54,000 beds, including 2,500 for family units, and in fiscal year 2021, $3.1 billion for 60,000 beds, including 5,000 for family units, and for fiscal year 2023, he requested $1.4 billion for 25,000 beds, and for fiscal year 2024, Secretary Mayorkas reduced it again, down to $1.3 billion for 25,000 beds,” Ms. Greene told the hearing.
The Georgia Republican also quoted from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget requests that said “a reduction in detention capacity space would not reduce the ... ability to apprehend and remove non-citizens that present a threat to national security, border security and public safety.”
She further noted that Mr. Mayorkas closed existing DHS detention facilities in Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina “while paroling en masse millions of illegal aliens into our country.”
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), responding to the Democrats’ claim of insufficient resources for DHS, reminded the hearing that Mr. Mayorkas has said the border is secure and has never asked Congress for additional resources.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) told The Epoch Times during the debate that,
“James Madison wrote back in 1789, ‘If an unworthy man be continued in office by an unworthy president, the House of Representatives can at any time impeach him.’ So, the House of Representatives is well within its authority to impeach Secretary Mayorkas for his dereliction of duty. This impeachment is not about policy differences or politics. It is about the rule of law. Nobody is above congressional statute or our Constitution. Secretary Mayorkas has violated at least eight federal laws. We have no choice but to impeach him.”
Amendments to delete each of the two articles were offered by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) and Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), and both were rejected on voice votes after lengthy debate.
During the debate on Mr. Correa’s amendment, Rep. Dan Goldman (R-N.Y.), who spoke more frequently than any of his Democratic colleagues during the long hearing, decried the Republicans’ argument that Mr. Mayorkas has obstructed congressional oversight and ignored subpoenas.
“You say we have obstruction of Congress. What obstruction, what subpoenas are you talking about? He has testified more than any other cabinet secretary in the Biden administration. He has cooperated far beyond what any single department did in the Trump administration ... You do not specify a single subpoena or a single example of how Secretary Mayorkas has obstructed,” Mr. Goldman said.
Looming over the proceeding, according to Democrats on the panel, was former President Donald Trump. Late in the evening, for example, as the debate continued on Mr. Correa’s amendment, Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) accused Republicans of hypocrisy because they have not condemned Mr. Trump’s many alleged crimes.
Similarly, Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.) suggested the explanation for the massive amounts of fentanyl coming across the border into the United States during Mr. Mayorkas’ tenure is a result of Americans demanding the drug that has killed more than 100,000 men, women, and children, many as a result of taking medicine they did not know was laced with the deadly substance. Mr. Payne’s comment drew a sharp rebuke from Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.), who called it “the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard all day.”
When Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) offered an amendment that described in great detail his opinion that the impeachment effort by Republicans was solely intended to help President Trump’s campaign to win a second term in the White House in November.
“It’s about Donald Trump still doesn’t accept Joe Biden as president and this impeachment is the continuation of the insurrection of January 6.”
Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) then ruled the Swalwell amendment out of order, a motion was made to table it, and the chairman’s ruling was upheld on yet another straight party-line vote, 18-15.
The same process was repeated with the same result when Mr. Swalwell introduced a second similar amendment. And it was repeated a third time with the same result when Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) introduced yet another similar amendment.
As the midnight hour approached, tempers and patience began growing shorter, particularly after Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) screamed at Republicans for what he called their allegiance to “the orange Jesus, as you call him,” an apparent reference to Mr. Trump.
As the debate continued late in the evening, Ms. Jackson-Lee conceded that
“Secretary Mayorkas is going to be impeached by this committee tonight, anybody who can count can see that.” But the debate continued on late into the night.
