The House of Representatives will hold a vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “as soon as possible” after the chamber reconvenes next week, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“When we return next week, by necessity, the Homeland Security Committee will move forward with Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas. A vote on the floor will be held as soon as possible thereafter,” the speaker wrote in a Jan. 26 letter to his Republican colleagues obtained by Punchbowl News.
In the letter, Mr. Johnson contended that President Joe Biden and his administration had deliberately created the crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border by ignoring and undermining the nation’s immigration laws.
“Rather than accept accountability, President Biden is now trying to blame Congress for what HE himself intentionally created,” he wrote.
A bipartisan group of senators has worked for weeks to solidify a deal on a supplemental funding package that would include funding for both border security and foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Mr. Johnson met with President Biden and negotiators at the White House last week to hash out their differences and move the process along. But in his Friday letter, he noted that negotiations appeared to have stalled in the Senate.
“If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” he added, referencing an alleged leaked draft that purportedly included a provision allowing the release of 5,000 illegal immigrants per day into the country, among other concessions.
Republican negotiators have refuted those rumors.
Mr. Mayorkas, if impeached, would be the second Cabinet secretary in U.S. history to meet that fate, the first being Secretary of War William W. Belknap in 1876. The Senate later acquitted Belknap.
Border Standoff
The move to impeach Mr. Mayorkas comes amid increasing tensions between the Biden administration and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has taken matters into his own hands to stop the flood of illegal immigrants pouring into his state.
Earlier this month, state authorities in Texas seized control of a public park in Eagle Pass, along the Rio Grande, and began installing razor wire to deter illegal immigrants. Although the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration by ruling that federal authorities could remove the wire, that has not stopped the state from forging ahead with installing it.
“We have to do something,” Staff Sgt. Rene Cordova, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, told reporters at a Jan. 23 press conference. Once the news spreads that Border Patrol is cutting the razor wire, the illegal immigrants will return, and “it won’t take them long to figure it out,” he said.
Mr. Abbott, far from backing down, defended his state’s actions in a defiant statement he shared on X, formerly Twitter.
“The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now,” he said. “President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.”
The governor noted that more than 6 million illegal immigrants had crossed the southern border on President Biden’s watch. “That is more than the population of 33 different states in this country.”
Having already declared an invasion of his state under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, he further stressed that Texas has the constitutional authority to defend itself.
“That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”
Mr. Johnson—along with several Republican governors—has voiced his support for Mr. Abbott’s efforts. In his Friday letter, Mr. Johnson reiterated that support, adding that House Republicans would “vigorously oppose” any White House or Senate policy proposal “that would further incentivize illegal aliens to break our laws.”
Caden Pearson, Savannah Hulsey Pointer, Darlene McCormick Sanchez, and Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times