Speaker Mike Johnson vows Mayorkas impeachment vote ‘as soon as possible’
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he intends to hold a floor vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “as soon as possible” for allegedly facilitating record-breaking illegal immigration along the US-Mexico border.
The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a Tuesday markup on articles of impeachment against the 64-year-old Mayorkas — as Republicans blame the border crisis on Biden administration policies.
“When we return next week, by necessity, the House 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,” Johnson (R-La.) wrote to fellow Republicans in a so-called “Dear Colleague” letter.
Mayorkas would be the second cabinet secretary in US history to be impeached — after Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 — setting up what would be an acrimonious election-year Senate trial focused on President Biden’s immigration actions.
Johnson issued the advisory as bipartisan Senate negotiations sputtered on a supplemental spending package that would include border funds.
The House speaker wrote that “the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement” to attach to Biden’s proposed $106 billion bill that would primarily fund military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” Johnson wrote.
“Since the day I became Speaker, I have assured our Senate colleagues the House would not accept any counterproposal if it would not actually solve the problems that have been created by the administration’s subversive policies.”
Johnson’s letter comes just a day after reporting that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a longtime foe of former President Donald Trump, accused the former chief executive of lobbying Senate Republicans to kill any border deal so that Trump could retain a leading anti-Biden campaign plank.
The speaker wrote that if Biden is serious about border security, he should take unilateral action to make changes to signal to Republicans that he would implement the provisions of any deal.
“The facts show that President Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas have willfully ignored and actively undermined our nation’s immigration laws,” Johnson wrote.
“My office has documented at least 64 specific actions taken by his administration that effectively opened our border and instituted the current chaos. Rather than accept accountability, President Biden is now trying to blame Congress for what HE himself intentionally created.”
Johnson went on: “Many of our constituents have asked an important question: ‘What is the point of negotiating new laws with an administration that will not enforce the laws already on the books?’ If President Biden wants us to believe he is serious about protecting our national sovereignty, he needs to demonstrate his good faith by taking immediate actions to secure it. He should sign an order right now to end the mass release of illegals and dangerous persons into our country. If he wants our conference to view him as a good faith negotiator, he can start with the stroke of a pen.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said at her regular briefing Friday that the effort to impeach Mayorkas was “shameful” and “wasteful.”
The number of illegal southern border crossings hit a monthly record of more than 302,000 in December, according to data released Friday by US Customs and Border Protection.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), whose panel will review the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas Tuesday, said, “December’s numbers serve as more undeniable proof that Secretary Mayorkas must be impeached.”
“This secretary is utterly unfit for the office he holds,” Green said. “He has neglected to fulfill his oath to secure the homeland and to comply with the laws of the United States.”
Green said “This secretary has intentionally opened our borders, sending a clear message worldwide: entering this country illegally means release into the interior, with little to no chance of removal — and the world has responded accordingly.”
The vast majority of people who illegally cross are being allowed into the US to await court rulings on their asylum status and are entitled to work permits as their claims pend before a backlogged review system.
Mayorkas, who has repeatedly insisted at congressional hearings that “the border is secure,” said this month that more than 85% of those detained for illegally crossing the border were being released into the US — up from 71% in October and 74% in November.
The Biden administration also has established a special “parole” program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans that allows a combined 30,000 people per month from those countries to enter the US through ordinary means such as flying and then await their case rulings.
Nearly 2.5 million people were apprehended after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30, in addition to an estimated 670,000 “gotaways” who evaded authorities — up from nearly 2.4 million in fiscal 2022 and 1.7 million in fiscal 2021.
Biden halted construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall on his first day as president and in June 2021 terminated Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required most asylum seekers to await decisions in Mexico.
The border crisis is a liability for Biden going into his expected rematch against Trump. A Pew Research poll released last month found that just 32% of Americans believed Biden could make “wise decisions about immigration policy.”
