FACT SHEET: MAGA Republicans’ No Evidence Impeachment of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Is Blatantly Unconstitutional

This week, MAGA House Republicans are moving forward with their partisan and blatantly unconstitutional attempt to undermine the Biden administration and are finally sending articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, Bipartisan Members of Congress rejected this impeachment in the House, saying there was no evidence to impeach Secretary Mayorkas. 

House Republicans have completely failed to name any high crimes or misdemeanors. The Secretary has not violated any laws, nor has he refused to uphold or enforce U.S. immigration law. The Constitution clearly states that impeachment is limited to high crimes and misdemeanors, not policy disagreements – a fact that has been reaffirmed by countless legal experts and documentation from the founders. And, MAGA House Republicans named MAGA extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene to outline their impeachment argument in the Senate. 

High-profile conservative voices – including their own prior impeachment witness and at least seven Republican Senators – have admitted that they see no grounds for impeachment nor any evidence of wrongdoing by Secretary Mayorkas. MAGA Republicans are desperate to score points with their MAGA base, playing partisan political games at Trump’s behest and targeting the Biden administration with an evidence-free, unconstitutional impeachment push.

House Republicans Have No Grounds For Impeachment, Let Alone Evidence of Wrongdoing. After spending over a year investigating Secretary Mayorkas, House Republicans have completely failed to name any legitimate grounds for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas – let alone any evidence of wrongdoing. 

• FACT CHECK: Contrary to Republican Claims, Secretary Mayorkas Has Not Violated Any Laws, Nor Has He Refused to Uphold or Enforce Immigration Law. Contrary to Republican claims, under Secretary Mayorkas, DHS has: 
  • Removed, returned, and expelled record numbers of noncitizens, including the majority of all southwest border migrant encounters. DHS’ rate of apprehending noncitizens attempting to cross the border is the same as during the Trump administration’s– 78 percent – and has reached maximum detention capacity given current funding levels. 
  • Seized record amounts of fentanyl and made significantly more fentanyl-related arrests than in the previous four years. 
  • Maintained operational control of the border to the same extent as every previous administration since the passage of the Secure Fence Act. A House Republican has referred to this concept as “a matter of opinion” and a former Border Patrol Chief concluded, “I’ve been doing this job for 32 years. We’ve never had operational control.” 
  • Continued to follow the parole process requirements outlined in the Immigration & Nationality Act.

The Constitution Does Not Allow For Impeachment Over Policy Disagreements. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, documentation from the Constitutional Convention supports the view that “congressional disagreement with a President’s policy goals is not sufficient grounds for impeachment.” Countless legal experts, their own impeachment witness, and numerous Republicans have all concluded that there is no Constitutional basis for impeaching the Secretary. As impeachment scholar Professor Frank Bowman testified: “Legal disputes over the exercises of executive authority are a commonplace in every administration. And every president wins some and loses others. If the mere existence of such disputes were impeachable, every president and every cabinet officer would be impeachable many times over.”

There Is Bipartisan Opposition to This Impeachment Stunt. Even Congressional Republicans know that this impeachment attempt is baseless. The House GOP failed to impeach Mayorkas on their first attempt, and only passed articles of impeachment by one vote with three Republicans voting against after an absent member returned from medical leave. A wide array of conservative voices have made it clear that this is nothing but a political stunt:

• Senate Republicans Aren’t On Board:
  • Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT): “I Would Be Inclined To Dismiss” Impeachment Charges Against Secretary Mayorkas. “I would be inclined to dismiss that. If there is a policy difference, it’s with the president not the secretary that reports to him.” [Manu Raju (CNN), X, 2/27/24]
    • Romney: “I Haven’t Seen The Constitutional Standard Met.” “I haven’t seen the Constitutional standard met yet. We’ll see what they find in their investigation…From what I can tell, he’s carrying out the policies of his boss, the president, for which you don’t impeach the secretary.” [Axios, 1/9/24]
  •  Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND): Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas Is “The Worst, Dumbest Exercise and Use of Time.” In mid-February, Cramer called the effort to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, “the worst, dumbest exercise and use of time.” [Axios, 2/14/24]
  • Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS): Impeachment Is Never The Answer To Policy Disagreements. In mid-February, Moran said the process of impeachment “is never the answer just to disagreements on policy.” [Axios, 2/14/24]
  • Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC): “I Don’t Agree With It.” “‘In many respects, there’s a parallel. If they’re torpedoing a bill whose contents they haven’t seen yet, it’s very similar to targeting a member of the administration without doing their homework to find precisely why he should be impeached. I don’t agree with it, but at least they’re consistent,’ Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) quipped. ‘They’re taking a fast track to condemning something they know nothing about, and they’re taking a fast track to using impeachment without doing their homework,’ he continued. ‘People are cutting corners and not doing their homework.’” [The Hill, 1/31/24]
  • Senator John Thune (R-SD): “You Have To Think Long And Hard” About Impeachment. “It’s a path when you start down that — I think you have to think long and hard about that, because it’s been a long time since it’s been triggered for somebody at the Cabinet level.” [The Hill, 1/31/24]
  • Senator Shelley More Capito (R-WV): “I Still Don’t Think We Should Be Impeaching Somebody Every Two Or Three Months.” “‘I still don’t think we should be impeaching somebody every two or three months,’ Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said. ‘I stand by that.’” [The Hill, 1/31/24]
    • Senator Capito: There Needs To Be Evidence To Impeach Mayorkas. ‘I’ve got to see what their evidence is,’ said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a perennial skeptic of House GOP impeachment efforts.” [Axios, 1/9/24]
  •  Senator James Lankford (R-OK): Our Southern Border Is “Political Gamesmanship” In Washington D.C. “Only in Washington is our southern border political gamesmanship instead of a national security crisis.” [X, @SenatorLankford, 1/17/24]
  • Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): Impeaching Mayorkas Is A “Waste of Time.” “Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said impeachment is a ‘waste of time’ unless it’s targeting Biden and predicted Senate Democrats won’t hold a trial anyway, arguing Republicans should instead make their case directly to the public: ‘This is an election year, we can solve a lot of those problems in 10 months.’” [Axios, 1/9/24]
  • Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “We Have Some Things To Do” Instead of Impeaching Mayorkas. “‘Oh my gosh,’ exclaimed Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) when asked about the effort to impeach Mayorkas. ‘We have some things to do. I’d like us all to be working really fast on appropriations.’” [Axios, 1/9/24]

• Even House Republicans Opposed Impeachment:
  • Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO): “This Is Not An Impeachable Offense. This Is A Policy Difference.” “I’m not changing my mind. I have met with Chairman Green from the Homeland Security Committee, the staff, outside constitutional experts, former members of congress about what this would mean for congress. I believe I have done my due diligence and I am standing firm at this point on this. If there’s some new evidence, I’m happy to look at it, but I don’t believe there will be. […] This is not a high crime or misdemeanor. This is not an impeachable offense. This is a policy difference … it’s wrong, and we should not set this precedent.” [MSNBC, 2/1/24, VIDEO]
    • Buck Voted Against Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas Twice. Buck voted against the articles of impeachment twice within one week. [H. Res. 863, Roll Call Vote #37, 2/6/24; Roll Call Vote #43, 2/13/24] 
  • Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA): There Is No “Specific Evidence” To Support Articles of Impeachment. McClintock asserted, “I have not seen specific evidence that he has lied.” [Breitbart, ‘Breitbart News Daily’, 11/15/23] 
  • McClintock Voted Against Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas Twice. McClintock voted against the articles of impeachment twice within one week. [H. Res. 863, Roll Call Vote #37, 2/6/24; Roll Call Vote #43, 2/13/24]
  • Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-MI) Voted Against Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas Twice. Gallagher voted against the articles of impeachment twice within one week. [H. Res. 863, Roll Call Vote #37, 2/6/24; Roll Call Vote #43, 2/13/24] 
• Nearly 5,000 Lawyers In A Letter To House Republicans: “These Assertions Do Not Meet The Constitutional Standard For Impeachment.” Over 4,600 lawyers across the country decried efforts to impeach Secretary Mayorkas as “unconstitutional.” They wrote: “In addition to lacking any basis in the Constitution, the impeachment articles reflect a basic misrepresentation of key statutes governing immigration law.” [The Hill, 2/6/24]
• Former Secretary of Homeland Security Under President Bush, Michael Chertoff: “They Have Failed To Put Forth Evidence That Meets The Bar.” Chertoff joined two other former DHS Secretaries in an open letter calling out the impeachment efforts of Secretary Mayorkas as “groundless” and “threaten[ing] our national security.” Chertoff also wrote, “they have failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar.” [The Washington Post, 2/6/24; ABC News, 1/30/24] 
  • Chertoff: Impeaching Mayorkas Is A “Political Stunt.” During a CBS interview, Chertoff said it would be a “very sad day” if Republicans succeeded in their “political stunt,” calling out House Republicans for “putting form over substance to go through a big performance rather than actually working with the administration to solve the problem.” [CBS, ‘Face The Nation’, 11/27/22, VIDEO]
•  Perennial GOP Witness Jonathan Turley: There Is “No Cognizable Basis Here For Impeachment.” Turley said there is no “cognizable basis here for impeachment,” explaining, “I don’t think they have established any of those bases for impeachment…The fact is, impeachment is not for being a bad cabinet member or even a bad person. It is a very narrow standard.” [The Hill, 1/29/24]
• Trump’s Former Impeachment Defense Lawyer Alan Dershowitz: Secretary Mayorkas “Has Not Committed Bribery, Treason, or High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” In January, Dershowitz wrote an op-ed encouraging Republicans to vote against impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, calling the complete lack of evidence a “double standard,” writing: “Whatever else Mayorkas may or may not have done, he has not committed bribery, treason, or high crimes and misdemeanors. [Alan Dershowitz, The Hill (Opinion), 1/30/24]