On Sunday, US lawmakers introduced articles of impeachment against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Allegedly, Mayorkas failed to comply with US law and breached public trust due to his handling of the US-Mexico border and immigration matters. This instance marks the second time in American history that articles of impeachment have been introduced against a presidential cabinet secretary.
The DHS Secretary reacted swiftly, decried the “unconstitutional and evidence free impeachment” shortly after the announcement. Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives, who scrutinize Mayorkas, allege that the DHS has not curbed the influx of migrants across the southern border.
Filed by House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), the 20-page impeachment resolution claims that Mayorkas “has willfully and systematically refused to comply with Federal immigration laws” and breached public trust in violation of his official oath. The lawmakers charge Mayorkas with failing to detain migrants crossing into the US without permission and DHS’s reluctance to remove migrants lacking a valid asylum claim quickly. These lawmakers argued that these actions were to the “grave detriment of the interests of the United States,” and noted that Mayorkas knowingly made false claims to Congress regarding the border’s security. However, some legal experts have questioned the charges’ basis.
The proposed impeachment articles will be taken up by the Republican-controlled House Homeland Security Committee during a 10:00AM EST hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
The political tension surrounding the US-Mexico border has escalated, particularly along the Texas portion of the border. Last week, the US Supreme Court permitted federal officers to remove razor wire that Texan state officials installed along the southern border. Nevertheless, Governor Abbott intends to defy this decision, continue hindering federal authorities, and invoke Texas’s right to declare war on migrants.
The 5-4 decision in the federal government’s favor came just one week after a federal appeals court mandated the rehearing of a case concerning Texas’s installation of floating barriers along a section of the Rio Grande River separating the US and Mexico. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also recently signed a new bill that lets Texan authorities arrest all undocumented migrants, including those lawfully seeking asylum.
Concurrent with these events, federal lawmakers are said to be contemplating numerous changes to federal immigration law that would “shut-down” the border according to the daily numerical cap on migrants, thereby barring some migrants who have been released into the country from claiming asylum. Despite President Joe Biden strongly backing “tougher border control,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) informed his Republican colleagues on Friday that the language will be “dead on arrival” in the House.